Editor’s note: This commentary is by Karen Horn, who is director of public policy and advocacy for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
As we all work, go to school, and hunker down at home to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, some surprising opportunities to connect with Vermont’s decision makers have been created. Three weeks into Gov. Phil Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, legislators are figuring out the technology for remote meetings and even remote voting. Local legislative bodies, held to the highest of standards for transparency by the Open Meeting Law, are going through the same steep learning curve.
If you have an adequate internet connection or cellphone service, you may now watch any legislative committee meeting in real time from your home instead of driving to the Statehouse and sitting in cramped meeting rooms for the privilege of listening to discussions that result in measures that direct all of our lives. The current situation has proved to be a tremendous advance in transparency at the Statehouse and demonstrates that remote meetings can happen in every legislative committee. The newly informed public may now draw its own conclusions from what it sees and hears. It is also an equalizer, as those who are in the Statehouse on a daily basis are no more able to buttonhole legislators in the hallways than is the general public. And incidentally, it is good for the planet as the carbon emissions from hundreds of cars driving there each day are eliminated. Judging from the number of views on some of the legislative committee hearings, Vermonters appreciate the current open window into how legislative business is conducted and laws are made.
I realize it is a big “if” to presume that people have adequate internet or cell service – I’m among the 23% of Vermont addresses, according to the Public Service Department, who don’t. As Vermont eventually moves on from the Covid-19 crisis into a new economy (it may not be pretty but it will happen), high-speed broadband connectivity across the state and among all socio-economic sectors must be a priority. Equally important, universal access to legislative deliberations in the House and Senate chambers and in individual committee rooms when legislators reconvene must continue. That likely will require teleconferencing capacity in all committee rooms in the Statehouse. It is a worthwhile investment that will benefit all Vermonters well into the future.
We cannot let the progress that technology offers for citizen participation to lapse and reflexively return to the well-trodden path of face to face meetings and communication in the Statehouse. We must instead seize the opportunity that the Covid-19 crisis has thrust upon us to ensure to all Vermonters the transparency of and access to the legislative process in our post-emergency future.
