(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo to increase public access to Board of Public Utilities public hearings held in state buildings cleared the Assembly, 74-0, on Thursday.
“The public should be aware of the action taking place during BPU meetings,” said DeAngelo (D-Mercer, Middlesex). “This legislation will improve access and transparency of public meetings. It will also give residents the opportunity to be informed even when they cannot attend the meetings in person.”
The bill (A-4511) provides that a public meeting held by the BPU in a building owned by state is to be broadcast live on the board’s internet website as an audio or video transmission provided that the building where the board is meeting is equipped with the necessary technology to broadcast the meeting live on the internet as an audio or video transmission.
The board is to maintain an electronic archive of the audio recordings of all meetings and make those archived recordings available to the public through its internet website.
The bill was released by the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee on February 27, of which DeAngelo is chair. The bill now goes to the Senate for further communication.