State and local officials are opting to keep the public away from public meetings amid the coronavirus outbreak. The policy shifts come during SunshineWeek, which is meant to highlight the importance of open government.
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2020 file photo, the House chamber at the state Capitol is empty in St. Paul, Minn., with some desks marked with an "A" - those desks may be occupied when lawmakers return to maintain "social distancing" because of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
“Public participation in our democracy is really fundamental to the health of our democracy,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a California-based nonprofit that promotes government transparency. All U.S. states require open government meetings. Some mandate that a majority of government officials be physically present to meet. Others already allow officials to meet by video or phone, with accommodations for the public to watch or listen from a designated room.
Legislators in Maine and Tennessee also excluded the public from their buildings. South Carolina lawmakers asked lobbyists and visitors to stay away. In Rhode Island, technical glitches frustrated some people trying to watch the first significant state meeting to be live-streamed after Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo loosened the state’s public meetings law. Those following the Board of Elections via the agency’s Facebook page complained that the feed froze.
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