Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Government Operations - Walkthrough of S.55 Update to Open Meeting Law

Description

Walkthrough of S.55 Update to Open Meeting Law at the House Committee on Government Operations.

On Wednesday, the House Government Operations and Military Affairs committee had a walkthrough of S.55 from legislative counsel and began taking testimony on the bill. During the bill walkthrough, Representative Hango asked many questions about hybrid meeting requirements, in person location requirements, and how the bill would practically be put into effect. The committee then took testimony from Lauren Hibbert, Deputy Secretary of State; Ted Brady, League of Cities and Towns; Carol Dawes, Clerk-Treasurer of Barre City; Catherine Dimitruk, Vermont Association of Planning & Development Agencies; Devon Neary, Rutland Regional Planning Commission; and Wendy Mays, Vermont Association of Broadcasters. Each witness largely supported the bill as passed by the Senate but expressed a desire to refine certain language (testimony linked below outlines exact asks - Lauren Hibbert did not submit testimony). Chair McCarthy said the committee would continue to take testimony on the bill next Tuesday, including diving into sections related to the working group. He also said the committee may choose to break into smaller working groups or subcommittees and do outreach to other stakeholders - he anticipated the committee would continue doing work on this bill for many coming weeks. Below are links to the bill as passed, a chart showing requirements for the different kinds of public bodies, written testimony, and a start of walkthrough and testimony.

S.55: As Passed by the Senate:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/S-0055/S-0055%20As%20Passed%20by%20the%20Senate%20Unofficial.pdf