Watchdogs Ask State Assembly to Webcast All Committee Meetings

Seven watchdog groups sent a letter this week to NYS Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie asking that the Assembly fully webcast all its committee meetings and archive committee videos on its website. This request comes after a commitment in 2016 by the Assembly to implement recommendations from an internal working group, including that the Assembly webcast its committee meetings.

The Assembly has recently used video conferencing to hold committee meetings, including the recent March 23rd meeting of the Judiciary Committee at which the Assembly’s impeachment investigation was discussed. Yet despite this meeting being held via Zoom for Assemblymembers and its lawyers, the public was only able to listen to the meeting through an audio feed. While audio for this meeting is archived on the Judiciary Committee website, audio for other committee meetings is not currently archived. Coupled with unpredictable committee meeting times, it is difficult for the public to monitor committee meetings and understand members’ votes and views on important legislation.

The NYS Senate has webcast its committee meetings since 2009, and archives committee videos on its website and on YouTube.

The full letter is available here (PDF) and below.

Re: Please make good on promises made in 2016 to fully webcast all committee meetings, including those which members currently participate in via video conference

Dear Speaker Heastie,

We ask you to fully webcast and archive all New York State Assembly Committee meetings on the Assembly’s website. We note that committee meetings are currently being held via video for Assemblymembers, but members of the public can only listen to live audio and do not get to see the video stream or see archived video.

When you became Speaker in 2016, you promised to take immediate action to implement the recommendations from the Workgroup on Legislative Process, Operations, and Public Participation to promote transparency and increase member effectiveness. These included:

• Making audio and video webcasts of committee meetings available on the Assembly website. Specifically, the recommendations stated that a simple webcam and/or audio access should be implemented promptly, with full video access as soon as practicable, beginning with key committees like Codes and Ways & Means.
• Ensuring that archived video recordings of session, public hearings, and committee meetings are available promptly online to all Members and the public on the Assembly website
• Indexing recordings and transcripts of Session, and recordings of public hearings and committee meetings, so all of these are linked to bills and searchable by bill.

Yet the Judiciary Committee’s highly anticipated March 23, 2021 meeting about the Assembly’s impeachment investigation was broadcast via audio, though Chair Charles Lavine noted that the members and lawyers representing the Assembly had joined via Zoom. Audio from this committee meeting is available on the Judiciary Committee’s website, but it is not available on the Assembly’s A/V website archive (https://nyassembly.gov/av/).

Live Audio Provided For Committee Meetings, But Not Archived
Audio for other committee meetings is only provided live at the time of the meeting, and is not available after the meeting on the Assembly A/V website’s archive. Given that committee meeting times are subject to change, it is difficult for the public to know exactly when to listen to the live committee audio. The recent Codes Committee on March 30, 2021 was originally scheduled for 10:00am, and high-profile legislation to legalize cannabis was on the agenda. The Codes Committee meeting was then moved to 1:30pm, but not actually held until 2:05pm, more than 30 minutes later than the rescheduled time. Updates for changes to committee meetings are not available on the Assembly’s Twitter feed, nor does the Committee Agenda page specifically note changes made to the meeting times. Unpredictable meeting times without archived audio makes it very difficult for the public to listen to committee meetings.

Archived Assembly video is only available for meetings that are currently webcast with video, such as committee hearings, budget hearings and joint budget conference meetings, interviews for positions like the NYS Board of Regents, and session proceedings.

Meanwhile, the New York State Senate has provided live and archived video of its committee meetings via YouTube for more than ten years, beginning in 2009.

Provided at the end of this letter are screenshots of how the live links and/or audio for Assembly Committee meetings appear on the “Upcoming Events” and “Live Coverage” page of the Assembly A/V website.

Public Should See All Committee Meetings Held via Zoom
We recognize that COVID-19 has changed the way we all do business, and the Legislature is no exception. As many of our groups wrote to you in January, it is important for the Legislature to address new challenges stemming from remote legislative work under the COVID-19 pandemic and improve public confidence in the legislative process.

Technology has made remote work possible, and the Legislature has used platforms such as Zoom to hold committee meetings, hearings, and budget conferences. While some of these meetings have been viewable by the public, committee meetings have not. There is no longer the concern about the technological requirements necessary to webcast meetings from committee rooms, as the Legislature has already adapted by holding these meetings remotely with video. It is simply a matter of also letting the public see the existing video and view what is already available for legislators and staff.

We therefore ask that the Assembly webcast all of its committee meetings with video, and include archival footage of committee meetings with other proceedings on its A/V website, as is the current practice for the NYS Senate.

Sincerely,

John Kaehny
Executive Director
Reinvent Albany

Noel Hidalgo
Executive Director
BetaNYC

Lawrence Norden
Director, Election Reform Program
Brennan Center for Justice

Betsy Gotbaum
Executive Director
Citizens Union of the City of New York

Susan Lerner
Executive Director
Common Cause/NY

Laura Ladd Bierman
Executive Director
League of Women Voters of New York State

Blair Horner
Executive Director
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)

Screenshots of Assembly Live Audio Links – Accessed March 30, 2021