The Tolbert Report

As I have previous posted extensively about, Rep. Harrelson has filed a set of bills, HB1611 and HB1783, (referred to by Rep. Harrelson as the Jason Tolbert Transparency Act of 2009 due to my avocation of the legislation) that would put the House Committee Meetings online with streaming video on their website.  At a minimal cost, these bills would allow citizens across the state to view any House Committee proceeding from the comfort of their laptop.  This would do wonders for creating transparency in our state legislative process and be an effective use of technology.

Public interest in the measure has risen lately as more people desire to know what is taking place on various state issues.  In fact, this topic is the focus of today’s Choose Your News segment with KATV’s Jessica Dean.  For those unfamiliar with CYN, this is a feature on KATV’s news service that allows viewers to interact with reporter Jessica Dean and literally tell her what you want her to cover that day.  The fact that this story was chosen by an overwhelming margin demonstrates the public support for the bill.

However, this bill had to go through the House Rules Committee made up entirely of handpicked appointments from Democrat Speaker Robbie Wills and consisting of only one moderate Republican Rick Green.  Rep. Harrelson spoke passionately for the measure telling the committee that this will be good not only for the citizens of Arkansas but for the House members by holding them accountable to their constituents. 

However, the Rules Committee was completely uninterested in creating this transparency.  The committee’s excuses ranged from lack of funding in the governor’s approved budget to complaints that this would interfere with current rules in place.  Rep. Barry Hyde spoke the strongest against the bill on the grounds that it should have come before the House Management Committee where he is the Chairman and that if it had he would have voted against it.  Rep. Harrelson, as a member of the Rules Committee, recommended due passage of the bill however every other member of the committee voted against it.

In the end, pettiness and concealment won out today instead of cooperation and transparency.