The Senate could vote Friday on whether to give final authorization to webcasting and establish the ground rules. The New Mexico Independent will be webcasting the webcasting debate.
Joining NMI’s Gwyneth Doland on the liveblog accompanying the webcast will be the Santa Fe Reporter’s Dave Maass and hopefully some other prominent panelists. Anyone can join the chat while they’re watching the debate.
Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, is 19th on the agenda for Friday’s Senate floor session, but if and when the bill is considered is really up to Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, who isn’t the biggest fan of webcasting. The Senate is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m.
“Our constituents want more access to their Senate. This will give it to them,” Boitano said about his resolution today in a news release.
The resolution was approved Wednesday by the Senate Rules Committee.
Last month, the Senate Committee’s Committee decided to take a step toward webcasting by allowing cameras to be reinstalled in the Senate gallery with the intention of beginning webcasting later this session. Boitano’s resolution would finalize that decision by setting in place the rules governing the webcasting.
The resolution, while allowing live audio and video webcasting from the floor, would prohibit archiving. The webcast would include a disclaimer that the audio and video are for the benefit of the public and political use is prohibited.
The decision last month to reinstall the cameras in the Senate was a shift for the bipartisan Committee’s Committee. Though equipment was purchased and installed last year for the purpose of webcasting audio and video from the Senate floor, the committee later killed that plan, blaming the budget crunch, and had the cameras taken down.
You can watch NMI’s webcast and join the liveblog by clicking here.