By Jeffrey A. Roberts
CFOIC Executive Director

Members of the appointed board that oversees the broadcasting of Colorado House and Senate floor proceedings say it’s time the General Assembly joins the long list of state legislatures that provide the public with video webcasts of committee meetings.

“We have the technological capability to do it, and it would give the public the best access to their government, to their state government operations,” Colorado Channel Authority Board chair Bart Miller told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. “And right now, they really don’t have that.”

He and other board members said they have repeatedly encouraged legislative leaders to video livestream committees. In a letter to the legislature’s executive committee, they asked for — but did not receive — permission to conduct an “internal test” during the 2022 session using existing cameras and other equipment, “aiming for a publicly accessible interface in future years.”

Now Miller, a local government attorney and former assistant director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services, is circulating a proposed amendment to the Colorado Channel Authority statute that would require the audio and video broadcasting of committee proceedings on the internet. But it’s not yet clear whether any legislators on the authority board will sponsor the measure in the 2025 session (CFOIC tried unsuccessfully to interview the board’s two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Mandy Lindsay of Aurora and Sen. Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge).

“My understanding is that the board wants to pursue this through legislation in the upcoming session,” said authority board member Renny Fagan, a former legislator and longtime CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association. “The public members have been very interested in it because the mission of the channel authority is to make the proceedings of government available to the people. And the video part of the channel authority (House and Senate floor action) has been very popular, especially when key bills are being debated.”

The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks webcasting coverage of legislative floor and committee proceedings throughout the country. All 50 state legislatures plus the District of Columbia Council and the legislatures of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Marianas livestream floor proceedings. Just Colorado and Maine are listed as providing only audio (not video) webcasting of some or all committee hearings.

Audio recording of Colorado legislative floor and committee proceedings began in the 1960s, Miller said, and is mandated by the legislature’s rules. The House started live video coverage of its floor action in 2008 after extensive private fundraising for the effort by then-Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who told The Denver Post his goal was to “make Colorado’s government the most transparent, the most accountable, the most citizen-friendly in America.” (CFOIC gave Romanoff its Sue O’Brien Public Service Award for that accomplishment in 2009). The Senate followed suit in 2010 under then-Senate President Brandon Shaffer.

The channel authority board contracts with the Open Media Foundation (for about $288,000 in FY 2023/2024) to provide coverage of floor proceedings on Comcast cable channel 165, the Colorado Channel’s website and YouTube, while Legislative Council handles the audio broadcasting and recording of committee work.

Miller said it is his understanding the Capitol’s committee rooms are already equipped — at least to some extent — for video after major renovations a few years ago and recent upgrades to accommodate remote testimony via Zoom. “We’re only talking about somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 more” to video livestream committee hearings, he said. (If a bill is introduced, Legislative Council will estimate the cost during the fiscal note process.)

Fagan said he’s made the argument that technology already lets someone sit in a committee room and livestream legislative proceedings using a phone. “So why don’t we just put it on the channel authority? It should just be available as a part of what the channel authority does.”

Denver7 news director Megan Jurgemeyer told CFOIC she’s been “trying to get this done” since she joined the channel authority board in 2017. “But we can never get the attention of legislators or the (General Assembly’s) executive committee to explore this further.”

“From a journalism perspective, it would give us an opportunity to monitor and stay on top of more of what’s happening at the Capitol,” she said, especially because resource-strapped media organizations can’t cover every committee hearing that might be newsworthy. “We want to make sure we can get all the information to our community, so they have an opportunity to hold their elected officials accountable and to make sure they’re doing the things that they promised.”

Video of committee meetings would be particularly important for TV journalists, Jurgemeyer added.

“There’s so much you get out of seeing someone’s body language, seeing their facial expressions, that you can’t get just from the audio,” she said. “That’s the value of a visual medium.”

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