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Committee sends public-comment cleanup bill to amending order after split testimony
Summary
Senate Bill 1007, a cleanup measure removing a sentence that limited public comment to agenda items, was sent to the fourteenth order for possible amendment after proponents said the change would restore community voice and opponents warned it could create open-meeting and quasi-judicial problems.
The Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1007 to the fourteenth order for possible amendment after hours of testimony and questions about whether removing a statutory sentence limiting public comment to agenda items would broaden public participation or undermine meeting procedures.
Senator Cindy Carlson introduced the bill as a cleanup of language from a prior enactment identified in testimony as Senate Bill 1361. Carlson said the sentence proposed for removal — "Public comment shall be limited to items listed on the meeting agenda" — has led some districts to deny patrons the chance to speak and has prevented opportunities for constituents to raise concerns that fall outside a posted agenda.
Several patrons and school…
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