{"id":1833,"date":"2025-01-31T14:51:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T19:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/?post_type=press&p=1833"},"modified":"2025-01-31T14:51:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T19:51:46","slug":"advocates-oppose-governors-open-meeting-law-proposal","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/advocates-oppose-governors-open-meeting-law-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates Oppose Governor’s Open Meeting Law Proposal"},"template":"","class_list":["post-1833","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Municipal Empowerment Act Would Limit Public Participation","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":"","related_issues":false,"related_work":[225],"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":true,"person":null,"name":"Geoff Foster","role":"","phone":"","email":"gfoster@commoncause.org"},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Today, the Governor filed the <\/span>Municipal Empowerment Act<\/span><\/a>. A coalition of democracy, disability access, and open government advocates expressed strong concerns about the bill\u2019s consequences for access to local government meetings. The proposal would make the format of local open meetings completely discretionary instead of maximizing access by reasonably guaranteeing hybrid public meetings with both in-person and remote access.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe ACLU of Massachusetts, Boston Center for Independent Living, Disability Law Center, Common Cause Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, MASSPIRG, New England First Amendment Coalition, and New England Newspaper & Press Association released the following joint statement in response to the bill:<\/b>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Municipal Empowerment Act again falls short on ensuring reasonable access to public meetings. It will shut people out of the democratic process by only allowing \u2014 and not requiring \u2014 municipalities to provide hybrid participation options. This is a core principle of a democratic process, and for disabled people and others, a fundamental civil rights issue. Giving every government body complete discretion about how to provide public access to their meetings means people with disabilities, the elderly, people who lack access to transportation, and others who are simply unable to access in-person meetings will be completely shut out when city councils, select boards, or school committees decide to hold meetings exclusively in person.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nBackground:<\/b>\r\n\r\nTo date, the House has already passed forward-thinking legislation that would have guaranteed hybrid participation by entities under the Open Meeting Law. The Senate has yet to debate the matter.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn spring of 2023, the coalition conducted a survey of every city council, select board, and school committee in the state. According to that survey, more than half of those bodies are already conducting fully hybrid or live-streamed meetings. Indeed, hybrid meetings are already standard operating procedure for many government entities in municipalities of every size, from Boston to Gosnold.<\/span>\r\n