Making government meetings more accessible and transparent
Modernizing participation in public meetings, promoting transparency and accessibility.
It’s time to update the Open Meeting Law
An Act To Modernize Participation in Public Meetings
H3040 & S2024 | Rep. Denise Garlick & Sen. Jason Lewis
Since early 2020, the Legislature has suspended provisions of the Open Meeting Law to enable public bodies to carry out their responsibilities remotely, with virtual access and participation by members of the public. As good government practices have evolved, many public bodies have combined the best of old and new, enabling both in[1]person and remote attendance.
When this temporary suspension expires at the end of March 2023, we should not regress to in-person meetings only. Nor should we switch exclusively to virtual meetings. It’s time for permanent reform that embraces hybrid meeting practices, expanding transparency and participation for the public and officials alike.
An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings will ensure greater access to open meetings for everyone — particularly for people with disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, and limited transportation — by allowing officials and members of the public to attend meetings in person or remotely.
The bill gives municipalities more than five years to achieve this goal and creates a trust fund to help them finance it.
Hybrid Access Should be the New Normal
In many communities across the state, remote and hybrid meetings significantly and equitably increased public participation in local government.
- Remote access removes long-standing barriers to participation for residents with disabilities, seniors, people with limited access to transportation, and people with work and family obligations that prevent them from getting to and spending hours at municipal buildings.
- Access to public meetings should never again hinge on a person’s physical mobility, or their ability to afford a car, get time off work, or find a care provider.
- At the same time, it’s a proud Massachusetts tradition for people to gather in community to make important community decisions.
- We can enrich our democratic process, ensure access for all, and increase public participation by blending remote and in-person meetings.
Feasible, Affordable & Financed
An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings will:
- Phase in hybrid meetings, prioritizing state agencies and elected municipal bodies
- Require universal compliance by 2030
- Allow municipalities to seek economic hardship waivers for non-elected bodies unable to provide hybrid meetings
- Create a Municipal Hybrid Meeting Trust Fund to administer a grant program that will help municipalities finance their modernization efforts.
We can’t go backward. Let’s keep the door open for everyone who wants to participate in their government.
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Authors
Deirdre Cummings
Legislative Director, MASSPIRG
Deirdre runs MASSPIRG’s public health, consumer protection and tax and budget programs. Deirdre has led campaigns to improve public records law and require all state spending to be transparent and available on an easy-to-use website, close $400 million in corporate tax loopholes, protect the state’s retail sales laws to reduce overcharges and preserve price disclosures, reduce costs of health insurance and prescription drugs, and more. Deirdre also oversees a Consumer Action Center in Weymouth, Mass., which has mediated 17,000 complaints and returned $4 million to Massachusetts consumers since 1989. Deirdre currently resides in Maynard, Mass., with her family. Over the years she has visited all but one of the state's 351 towns — Gosnold.