The Senate Education Committee meeting by Zoom on Jan. 6, 2022. (Courtesy of New Jersey Legislature)
Current law allows government agencies to hold remote meetings only during a state of emergency or public health emergency.
But now that the COVID-19 pandemic made virtual meetings a fixture in a post-pandemic world, lawmakers are looking to lift those restrictions and allow agencies to hold remote meetings whenever they want.
The bill, introduced in January, allows a “public body” to hold meetings, vote and receive public comment through electronic means. A public body, as defined by the state’s public meetings act, includes a commission, authority, board, council, committee or any other voting body that performs a public government function.
The measure does not apply to the judicial branch, grand juries, the state parole board, State Commission of Investigation, and political party meetings.
Mmost government bodies livestreamed their meetings in the months after the coronavirus crisis triggered shutdowns. But many have since shifted back to in-person meetings. Some local council meetings don’t allow people to testify remotely, and many hearings in the Statehouse don’t allow virtual testimony.
CJ Griffin, an attorney with Pashman Stein who was an outspoken critic of the state’s overhauling of public records access, said the bill is a good way to make sure people’s voices are heard.
During the pandemic, she said, people became more interested in what was going on in their town.
“A big part of that was they could just easily attend the meetings, whereas if you go in person, it’s at 5, 6, 7’o clock when you’re getting home from work, feeding the kids — a lot of people aren’t going to be able to make it to that meeting,” she said.
Allowing more virtual meetings also would benefit people with mobility issues and ensure citizens don’t get left out of the decision-making process when meeting rooms reach capacity, she added.
While the bill is good example of legislators updating state laws to the 21st century, Griffin said, they should be going one step further and requiring meetings to include a remote public comment period. That would ensure transparency, she added.
“It would be amazing if an agency was not just permitted to have the public comment section include remote speakers, but also required by law to have that, because you know that a lot of agencies are just going to choose not to use remote services at all,” she said.
The bill is expected to be heard Thursday in the Assembly State and Local Government Committee. A companion bill in the Senate has not moved since it was introduced in January.
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