Earlier this month visitors to the Arkansas Senate gallery were surprised by a sign that, among other things, prohibited visitors from recording the Senate proceedings with their phones or other recording devices.
Obviously, from a freedom standpoint telling people you can’t record the Senate is bad – very bad. Thankfully, when people complained to their Senators about the crazy restriction the Senators quickly canceled the restriction.
Having video of the legislature’s proceedings is very important for getting the real story of what goes on at the legislature. Both the Senate and House provide a live video stream of their proceedings. Some news media outlets also have cameras as well. Citizen videos can also be important because they may focus on parts of the story not covered by the legislature’s or news media’s cameras.
Here are two examples of how videos redefined the story.
EXAMPLE – STURCH VOTE
In 2017, there was a vote on a bill that would have reformed special elections by restricting cities and counties from passing tax increases in special elections where they know voter turnout will be low and passing a tax is much easier. The bill passed in the Senate and the House of Representatives initially passed the bill but the House vote was immediately challenged, which meant Representatives who had voted for the bill had to be in their seats and confirm their vote by saying “Aye.” Representative James Sturch (now Senator Sturch) had voted for the bill but wasn’t in his seat to affirm his vote.
Without the video you might have assumed Sturch had never been present and someone had pushed his voting button. Fortunately for the public, during the challenge the video happened to switch to the Representatives voting. With the video, his real actions are seen in a very different light.
The video showed James Sturch was still in his seat following the initial vote. As the roll was being called, Sturch check his phone and confers with his seat mates. Then he skedaddles out of the House chamber only seconds before his name is called. Within three minutes of him leaving to kill the bill, he returned to the House floor.
From the video, you can conclude he only voted for the bill initially because he thought it would pass anyway but when he realized his vote determined whether the bill would pass or fail, he left, intentionally killing the bill so mayors and county judges can continue to pass tax increases in special elections. Again, without the video you would have assumed he just hadn’t been there for either vote. (Watch at How Rep. James Sturch Killed Special Election Reform by Walking Out)
EXAMPLE – CAROL DALBY PROTECTING HER BILL
Last year in the House Judiciary Committee a controversial bill on hate crimes by Representative Carol Dalby came up for a vote. Not only was Dalby the sponsor of the bill she was also the chair of the committee and made a ruling to pass her bill. From the video it sounds like those against the bill were in the majority but Dalby ruled her bill passed. Quickly several Representatives demanded a roll call vote, but to pass her bill she ignored the demands and declared the meeting was adjourned. The House video also quickly shut down. But citizen video showed more of the chaos that erupted. (Watch at The Joe Biden’s of the AR House to see the House video)
THANK YOU, SENATORS
As you can see there are some moments during a legislative session when video provides the real story. With limited camera angles from the legislature’s video, the video showing the real story can be from recordings made by citizens. It is important to protect the rights of citizens to video.
Thank you to the Arkansas Senate for quickly canceling the edict against video recording from the Senate gallery!
