Ledge Preview: Online Streaming & Redistricting

House and Senate committees regroup on Tuesday to start the 88th General Assembly’s work in earnest. 

On the calendar this week, the Senate State Agencies Committee will get a briefing on Congressional and State Legislative Redistricting.  This huge subject will reshape Arkansas’ four congressional district boundaries and all 135 state House and Senate districts.

Another major issue for several House committees will center on votes to approve online streaming of their meetings. We suspect the topic was debated long and hard in the House committee chairmen retreat on Friday. Last week, a controversy arose when at least one committee chairman balked at the notion of streaming meetings, even though equipment is already installed in the meeting rooms.

That spurred several news outlets, including Talk Business, to seek an "open camera" online policy in the House.

The response we received from a number of different blogs, news groups, and editorialists was encouraging, and it came from the left, right and center.

The legislature should find wisdom when sources as diversified as these groups and individuals have noted their support for openness, such as:

Luke Hobbs, Progressive Arkansas
Arkansas Family Council
Democrat-Gazette editorialist Meredith Oakley
Democrat-Gazette editorialist Pat Lynch
Gerard Matthews of the Arkansas Times
Christopher Spencer, Ozarks Unbound
Activists with Americans for Prosperity &
   The Arkansas TEA Party
Michael Tilley, The City Wire
Jason Tolbert, The Tolbert Report

And, of course, our enterprise – Talk Business.

Here’s hoping that lawmakers do the right thing and use the public’s already spent money more wisely to cement their trust with the the citizens they represent.