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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
House Panel To Study Webcasts
By Dan Boyd
Journal Capitol Bureau
SANTA FE — The future of Internet broadcasts featuring the New Mexico Legislature remains up in the air.
A subcommittee in the state's House of Representatives will be assembled to study the impact of Webcasts, which suddenly have become a hot issue.
One day after Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, angered Democratic leaders by deploying her own Webcam without seeking formal legislative permission, members of the House Rules and Order of Business Committee spent an hour Tuesday morning discussing how to handle the technology before deciding to form the subcommittee.
“I think you have to weigh what's really at stake here,” said House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants. “I don't think it's a transparency issue. These are open, public meetings. This is really about convenience.”
Martinez and House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, had proposed a rule change that would have allowed committee chairmen to decide whether to allow Webcams. The proposal was discussed, but not acted upon, on Tuesday.
More than 40 states offer some sort of legislative broadcasting, either via television, audio or the Internet, according to the Legislative Council Service.
New Mexico is one of the few states that don't offer such service.
Some lawmakers say they have concerns about who would own rights to the footage and how it would be used.
“If I'm sleeping and it's recorded, that could be used for gain by my opponent,” said Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock.
Others, however, say it's time for the state to embrace the technology, which advocates say would allow New Mexicans living in far-flung locations to follow their elected representatives.
“I think by being here, we've consented to whatever scrutiny people want to apply to us,” said Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad. “I think allowing the pubic in is very, very important.”
House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, pledged to appoint the subcommittee promptly, but didn't pinpoint when.
Meanwhile, it is unknown whether Arnold-Jones' Webcasting, which she has called an act of civil disobedience, will be allowed to continue.
The next meeting of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee, where Arnold-Jones launched her Webcast on Monday, is scheduled for this afternoon.
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