Speak up
The obsession du jour here at the legislature is still the Senate budget, which should get some debate here in a few minutes.
Meanwhile, the House continues to go about its business, including the Ways and Means committee which gave the thumbs up to House Bill 635, which would require public bodies to allow for comments from the public during their meetings. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat.
The original form of the bill would have dictated that city councils, county commissioners and school boards set aside at least 30 minutes at the beginning of their meetings for residents to come and speak. The version of the bill passed by the committee only requires that those boards set aside time at some point during their meeting.
Jones said he drafted his bill at the request of several community groups, including the state NAACP, in response to problems experienced by folks trying to speak at the Durham school board and at least one city council meeting elsewhere.
You can find stories on the Durham situation here and here.
Guilford County Commissioner and state NAACP president Melvin "Skip" Alston was on hand for the hearing and not happy with the bill's softer language.
"If a time period is not put in the bill, the officials could only have five minutes (of comment time)," Alston complained.
After the meeting, Jones acknowledged that his bill wasn't as strong, but said the current version had the backing the groups that lobby on behalf of cities and counties.
"The issue was that people were not able to speak at all," Jones said. "You've got to give them the opportunity to do the right thing."
If boards continued to ignore the public comment requirement, Jones said, another bill to stiffen the requirement could be brought.
Before there's any requirement, the bill has to next clear the full House and then get the Senate's approval. (Oh, and the governor has to sign off too.)
Guilford County, Greensboro, High Point and most all the Guilford County towns I know about would be unaffected by the bill, since they already provide for public comment time.
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