New Mexico Legislative Reports, a subscription-only online newspaper covering the state Legislature, announced today that it will begin offering for free its audio webcasts from the floor of the House and Senate, and will explore the possibility of adding video in the future.
The live audio feeds will be available beginning sometime today, along with House and Senate floor schedules, at lawmakerslive.com.
“We are experienced and have the right amount of broadband. Our audio is super-high quality. It has been great and we’ve had many compliments,” Beverly Garcia, the publisher-editor of the 26-year-old, privately owned news organization, said in a news release announcing the free service.
Garcia said her company is offering only live feeds for free. Audio archives and daily indexing of audio debates will be available only to subscribers of the pricey New Mexico Legislative Reports. The live audio feeds have been available to subscribers for five years.
Garcia, whose business, until this year, was the only webcaster of New Mexico legislative proceedings, said in the news release that the debate over webcasting is consuming too much time. Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones started the debate earlier in the session by bringing her own webcam into committee meetings and webcasting audio and video of proceedings. KUNM-FM has set up a live audio feed from the Senate floor, and the New Mexico Independent has also webcast audio and video of a committee hearing.
That attention has given the issue new life in the Legislature after webcasting was shut down by legislative leaders in the past. The House is proceeding toward the possibility of beginning its own audio webcasts as early as later this week and adding video in the future. And though Senate leaders oppose it, the vast majority of senators are pushing for audio and video webcasting in that chamber as well.
Garcia says that won’t be necessary.
“I want to end the wrangling and let legislators get on with addressing the critical needs of the state and its people,” she said in the release. “Everyone, in fact everyone in the world, with a computer and Internet access can now listen to legislative sessions live, and at no cost whatsoever.”
As to video, Garcia said, “We’ll get the free audio coverage up and running now, and look at video as the year unfolds. What we offer now is a good start in that direction. We’re committed to transparency in government — that’s our business — and this service to the state and the public will allow everyone a new level of access to the legislative process.”
Meanwhile, the House Rules and Order of Business Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to consider a subcommittee’s recommendation that it begin its own audio webcasting as soon as possible from the House floor and at least two committee rooms, and proceed toward adding video. The subcommittee will meet 30 minutes before the meeting to formalize its recommendation, which it has already stated publicly.