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Committee approves requirement for local governments to post meeting recordings online despite opposition from municipal and county officials
Summary
A bill requiring cities, city councils and quorum courts to post video recordings of meetings online (including Facebook as an option) was passed as amended; opponents warned it would be an unfunded mandate for small municipalities and counties.
The City, County & Local Affairs Committee passed a bill requiring cities, city councils and quorum courts to post recordings of their meetings online or on social media; the committee adopted two amendments before passing the bill.
Representative Robin Lundstrom (District 18) said the bill requires local bodies to post video recordings and gives small jurisdictions one year to comply. "This bill simply adds cities and city councils and quorum court to post the recordings of their videos of their meetings online or on their Facebook ... that's the reason I say Facebook is because there's no charge," Lundstrom said.
John Wilkerson, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, and witnesses from the Association of Counties and several county judges warned the measure would create a substantial burden on small cities and counties. Wilkerson said Arkansas has roughly 500 cities and towns and estimated that up to 40% might have difficulty complying, with perhaps 20% experiencing "substantial" difficulties. He and others raised concerns that some jurisdictions lack reliable cell or Internet service, lack websites, and have limited staff to manage recordings and online postings.
Josh Curtis of the Association of Counties and Hot Spring County Judge Dennis Thornton called the bill an unfunded mandate that would fall to county clerks and judges to staff and maintain. "A lot of small counties in South Arkansas ... just are opposed to this. A lot of counties do do this. ... but we represent all county judges and Judge Thornton's probably got a few other things to say as well," Curtis said.
Representative Lundstrom defended the bill, noting the one-year compliance window and suggesting local volunteers, schools, or churches could help small towns set up social-media pages. After debate, the committee adopted two amendments (adding Sen. Hammer as a sponsor and giving a year to comply) and then voted to pass the bill as amended.
The transcript records multiple rounds of testimony from municipal and county representatives; no roll-call tallies are recorded in the committee transcript.
