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Legislative video should be accessible to all
Legislative video should be accessible to all
Dear Friend,
Sometimes the legislative process in Lincoln appears agonizingly slow.
But not everything is as it seems. There are also parts of the Legislature that operate at breakneck speed, at least as far as the average Nebraskan is concerned.
Each year, senators and committees get to designate priority bills. If committees want to proceed quickly, a bill can be well on its way to becoming law before most Nebraskans even have time to find out what’s going on.
Of course, we elect representatives to vet bills on our behalf, and some legislation probably gets rammed through in every state legislature.
But there’s something almost all states have that Nebraska doesn’t: an easy, timely, and complete way for people to find out what actually happened in the Legislature on a given day.
Now, Nebraska Public Media does a fantastic job livestreaming videos of the Legislature. But almost unbelievably, these videos aren’t officially posted anywhere on the internet to watch later.
I won’t bore you with explanations of why it’s not happening. None of it really matters when you consider that we’re one of the only states that doesn’t put recordings on their legislative website or YouTube.
This week, the Legislature’s Executive Board held a hearing on Sen. Tom Brewer’s Legislative Bill 777, which would create a publicly-accessible state archive of legislative videos. Our team was there to testify in support.
Here’s a video we recorded ourselves to prove we were there.
It’s more than just nice to have recordings of public meetings, it’s essential for holding officials accountable and informing Nebraskans.
Nebraskans should have the right to observe and scrutinize what’s being said and done in the State Capitol.
Without recordings, it can be some time before official transcripts becomes available, if you even know where to look for them, that is.
And because senators often don’t take an up-or-down vote on legislation—including in floor debate—a video recording might be the only timely evidence of how or why policy decisions were made.
Even though Nebraska media seems to be enjoying a resurgence with the launch of several news outlets in the past year, there are still a lot of gaps to fill in providing information and coverage about policy issues that impact Nebraskans.
As we head into the busiest part of the 2022 legislative session, I guarantee you that many Nebraskans still aren’t aware of what new laws were enacted in 2021 or other recent sessions, how the laws work, or how they came to be.
Fortunately, LB777 would also include a look back at past recordings, giving Nebraskans an easy way to get informed and inform others.
I don’t know exactly what Nebraskans would think about LB777, but last year, we polled voters about virtual government meetings. 66% said they would support a state law giving them the option to attend government meetings virtually. In total, 67% of Republicans, 72% of Democrats, and 60% of independents favored that option. Only 18% of voters were opposed.
Given how many of us have experienced an online meeting that’s been recorded in the last two years, I think it’s safe to say there’d be some overlap with the interests of these voters and support for LB777.
You can visit our Take Action page to learn more about how Nebraska can start putting legislative videos online in time for next year’s session: https://bit.ly/3GRl6cx
Thanks for reading,
Jim Vokal
Platte Institute