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Committee hears bill to modernize remote participation rules for local boards; laid over
Summary
Senate File 787 would relax restrictions on remote attendance for local elected bodies (e.g., school boards), remove unsafe notice requirements and allow more than three remote meetings in certain circumstances; the committee heard multiple school-board witnesses and laid the bill over.
Senate File 787, a measure to amend Minnesota’s open-meeting law to modernize remote participation rules for local governing bodies, was heard March 11 by the Senate State and Local Government Committee and laid over.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mann, described changes intended to remove statutory barriers that prevent officials from participating remotely when unavoidable circumstances arise — for example, when a member must stay home to care for an ill spouse, loses childcare at the last minute, or has a mobility issue. The bill would remove language requiring a member’s home to be open and accessible to the public as a condition of remote participation, allow more than three remote meetings under specified circumstances, and adjust notice requirements.
School-board and education witnesses said the bill addresses frequent, practical problems for locally elected officials. Laura Oxnavad, a school-board member representing suburban districts and testifying for the Association of Metro School Districts and the Minnesota School Boards Association, said several local examples where current law prevented participation: a board chair unable to join remotely after a positive COVID test when his location had not been posted three days prior; a member who could only watch but could not participate when a child became ill; and a member who attended in person despite being ill because remote participation was not allowed. Terry Morrow, general counsel for the Minnesota School Boards Association, said such calls are the most common issue the association receives and that the law predates the Zoom era.
Committee members had no substantive objections on the record and the bill was laid over for further consideration.
