Sen. Cyrus Habib pushes bill for legislative YouTube testimony

Published 4:17 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The following is a release from the office of Sen. Cyrus Habib:

A bill to modernize the process of legislative testimony and open the doors to state government for people across the state advanced today, as it passed the House of Representatives on a 96-2 vote. The bill previously passed the Senate on a unanimous 46-0 vote.

The bill would create a process for people to record video legislative testimony at their convenience using their phone, laptop, webcam or any other camera, upload it to a YouTube-style video hosting website, which legislators would be able to view prior to voting.

“All the special interests have lobbyists here at the capitol, but ordinary people too often have a tough time having their voices heard in the process,” said Sen. Cyrus Habib, D-Kirkland and sponsor of the bill. “If you can’t take time off of work or school, have a disability or live on the other side of the state, you might not be able to take a day to come to Olympia to testify for two minutes on a bill. But your voice still needs to be heard, and this bill offers a way to make that happen.”

Other remote testimony options have been considered in the past, but this would be the first and only program in the state to allow remote testimony to be recorded and uploaded by a person with a video camera from any time, any place.

“In the year 2015, the era of Instagram, YouTube and selfies, we’re finally modernizing the process of legislative testimony to catch up,” Habib said. “Washington has been a global leader in technological innovation, and our state government should take advantage of new technologies to make the legislative process as accessible and public as possible. This is a really exciting program and I look forward to the legislature continuing to adopt these kind of innovative reforms.”