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Senate advances 'People's Access' bill narrowing livestream mandate to state agencies
Summary
Senators approved a committee substitute to require state agencies — not local governments or school boards — to livestream meetings, post links for public access, and retain recordings for two years; the ethics commission is assigned enforcement under Open Meetings law.
Senators adopted a committee substitute for the People's Access Act (Senate Bill 22‑59) that would require state agencies to broadcast meetings via livestream on a government website or designated channel and make recordings and minutes publicly available for two years. Senator McConnell, explaining the substitute, said the change "pulls it back to just state agencies" and requires agencies to "keep the stuff for 2 years" to limit burdens on local entities.
Supporters said the narrower scope reflects concerns about cost and technical capacity for counties, municipalities and school boards; the substitute also removes "void ab initio" language and puts enforcement of Open Meetings violations with the ethics commission. Senators pressed the sponsor about emergency exceptions and whether the proposal would exempt legislative or peer committees; the sponsor responded that the substitute allows later posting of recordings when power or connectivity fail.
Senators adopted the committee substitute and a related amendment on the floor; final passage was carried by morning roll call. The measure contains a reverse‑repealer for further conference drafting and leaves detailed implementation (including how links are routed to the DFA transparency site) to subsequent work between the sponsor and agency staff.
