Thank goodness for access to remote testimony during legislative session

Washington Policy Center and the League of Women Voters of Washington want to thank the Washington State House and Senate’s bipartisan leadership for the remote testimony processes they established in the challenging legislative session that ended in April.

That session was historic in its approach to conducting meetings — the COVID pandemic and need for distancing caused the Legislature to build on the prior remote testimony process and add new virtual participation options, with great benefits to both legislators and the public.

While this fully remote session had its share of frustrating moments, the greater than average degree of remote public engagement in the legislative process was a step in the right direction. Full remote testimony along with the ability to send written testimony and sign on as for or against bills without having to travel to Olympia was a clear win for citizens.

The opportunities for enhanced engagement extended beyond hearings and into meetings with legislators. Virtual group meetings are impossible when limited to the telephone, and we (that is, the League) were able to organize hundreds of virtual meetings for constituents. People from Eastern Washington and areas north and south of Olympia who would have traveled for hours and a full day or more to testify or meet in person, were able to be heard. In the past, it took paid lobbyists to get the attention not available to average citizens. This new method is clearly a gain for our democratic process and for transparency.

We are encouraged to hear that legislators are considering making similar opportunities available in future sessions, and we strongly urge that they do so. We also encourage another improvement for transparency: make proposed bills and budgets available more than a few hours in advance of the public hearings on them. This includes bill substitutes, strikers and conference committee reports.

While we recognize that producing things like the budget is a complex process — the length and breadth of the topics and funding streams makes this highly specialized and sensitive — only paid lobbyists with staff have the opportunity to comment substantively in the current time frames. The legislature should also finally ban “Title Only” bills. For citizens to be informed on the bills they are testifying on, much greater transparency is needed for all versions of the proposals. We urge the legislature to consider revising the timelines for these documents to allow meaningful public participation.

Democracy requires public awareness, engagement, and transparent processes. Our legislators want to hear from constituents. The League of Women Voters of Washington and Washington Policy Center consider full remote testimony a welcome change that should continue. We thank the legislature for responding in this way to the COVID pandemic and we advocate employing this type of remote citizen participation in future years.

– Lunell Haught, PhD, is president of the League of Women Voters of Washington. Jason Mercier is director of the Center for Government Reform at the Washington Policy Center.