When the Colorado General Assembly convened its session yesterday, Wednesday, Jan. 14, a new feature was slated to be available to the general public — a live video feed of legislative committee meetings.Previously, only an audio feed was available for committee meetings. Video feed of the Colorado House has been available since 2008, with the Colorado Senate following in 2010.
This is a great step forward for transparency and for supporting folks to who want to see if their elected officials are serving them adequately and appropriately.
Kudos to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition (CFOIC) for working on and pushing this since the fall of 2024. Kudos also go to Bart Miller, who the CFOIC notes is chair of the Colorado Channel Authority board that oversees video coverage of House and Senate floor proceedings and who has been promoting the committee video idea for years.
As the CFOIC explains in a post on its website, “The Executive Committee of Legislative Council voted 5-1 to spend up to $70,000 to activate video livestreaming on the Sliq Media Technologies system that for several years has provided streaming audio of legislative committees. The committee’s action follows a summer/fall pilot that tested video coverage using fixed cameras in five committee rooms, with more than 15,000 viewers through mid-November.”
But, it cautions, don’t expect anything too fancy.
“Adding video to the existing Sliq system has its limitations: Viewers should not expect a high-resolution experience with multiple camera angles,” it states. “Those tuning in online during the pilot could see a wide shot of the committee as well as any slides referenced by speakers.“But previously, you would see nothing but an illustration of the state Capitol building under the words ‘Audio Only.’”
In its research, the CFOIC found that Colorado was the only state not providing at least some video coverage of legislative committee meetings.
It’s about time we caught up.
We can’t say we’ll tune in all the time, but knowing we can tune in and more easily track what is going on than audio alone sometimes allows is certainly nice, especially when bills important to our area are being discussed.
We’re obviously fans of things that make our governments more accessible and the hundreds of miles between us and the state capitol feel a little shorter.
WinterFest
This weekend’s WinterFest events will be a great opportunity to get outside and enjoy a little bit of what makes Pagosa Country special.
The weather looks beautiful to take in everything from the bonfire, live music and delicious homemade soups to the hot air balloon ascensions, BB gun Biathlon and Penguin Plunge.It’s unfortunate Mother Nature didn’t cooperate to allow the skijoring and Sledz on Rez events to be safely held, but we hope the weather cooperates for them to make a grand return next year.For more on the events and schedule, see The PREVIEW.
We hope to see you there.
Randi Pierce
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