Today on the House floor, Majority Leader Amy Summers stated that the House Technology and Infrastructure Committee would reconvene this afternoon to reconsider bills that were discussed and voted on during the committee’s March 24, 2021, meeting. An audio malfunction during that meeting cut off public access to committee deliberations, and by choosing to move forward with the meeting in spite of the technology failure, the House violated the state open meetings act.
When Majority Leader Summers announced the reconvening, she stated that the reconvening was rescheduled because those that “chose not to attend” did not have 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.
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.