MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates responded to a threatened lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday by sending a couple handfuls of bills back to a committee for reconsideration.
The issue stems from a Wednesday House Technology and Infrastructure Committee meeting that suffered a breakdown in its audio feed, leaving portions of the meeting inaudible. With COVID restrictions preventing public attendance at meetings, this essentially cut off public access.
Around 11:30 a.m. Thursday the ACLU issued a press release saying it intended to sue the House for violating the state Open Governmental Proceedings Act.
“Although committee members and legislative staff were aware that the public did not have meaningful access to the meeting, the committee did not adjourn and instead moved forward with the meeting,” the ACLU said. “Conducting a meeting when the only opportunity for public access is not available is a violation of the act.”
ACLU said if it proceeded with the suit in Kanawha County Circuit Court, it would ask for any decisions made in the meeting to be set aside.
When the House session ended early Thursday afternoon, Majority Leader Amy Summers announced that because of the technical glitch, three bills and 12 resolutions were being recommitteed to the committee to reconsider later in the day.
She didn’t mention the ACLU’s action but House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, issued a statement following the floor session in response to a request from The Dominion Post.
He mentioned the bills being sent back to committee and said, “House of Delegates staff members have worked diligently to conduct this year’s legislative session while maintaining safety and transparency. Staff members had been attempting to correct technology issues that were affecting sound quality this week, but when we became aware audio from a meeting was unusable, we made the decision to recommit the affected legislation and allow them to be debated again in committee for the benefit of the public.”
The Dominion Post then contacted the ACLU to ask if would still pursue litigation. Spokesman Billy Wolfe said, “We’re reviewing the actions of the committee and it’s premature for us to make any decisions just yet regarding the potential litigation.”
Wolfe said they’re concerned about comments made by Summers when she announced the action on the legislation. Wolfe sent a link to ACLU’s website that elaborated on this.
ACLU says there that Summers referred to those who “chose not to attend” the meeting lost access to the audio stream.
“ACLU-WV’s understanding is that at this time the Capitol remains closed to the public. If this was the policy in effect at 9 a.m. on March 24, 2021, the public did not have the option to ‘attend’ the meeting in person,” ACLU wrote. “If the House of Delegates or Senate have relaxed policies on public access to the Capitol, the public must be informed. We urge the House of Delegates and Speaker to post policies relating to access to the Capitol immediately.”
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
