The Governor has introduced the Municipal Empowerment Act, a proposal that has sparked concerns among various advocacy groups. These organizations argue that the bill could negatively impact access to local government meetings by making the format of such meetings entirely discretionary, rather than ensuring hybrid public meetings with both in-person and remote access.
A coalition comprising the ACLU of Massachusetts, Boston Center for Independent Living, Disability Law Center, Common Cause Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, MASSPIRG, New England First Amendment Coalition, and New England Newspaper & Press Association issued a joint statement criticizing the bill. They stated: “The Municipal Empowerment Act again falls short on ensuring reasonable access to public meetings. It will shut people out of the democratic process by only allowing — and not requiring — municipalities to provide hybrid participation options. This is a core principle of a democratic process, and for disabled people and others, a fundamental civil rights issue. Giving every government body complete discretion about how to provide public access to their meetings means people with disabilities, the elderly, people who lack access to transportation, and others who are simply unable to access in-person meetings will be completely shut out when city councils, select boards, or school committees decide to hold meetings exclusively in person.”
Previously passed legislation in the House would have mandated hybrid participation under the Open Meeting Law; however, this has yet to be debated in the Senate. A survey conducted by the coalition in spring 2023 revealed that more than half of city councils and school committees already conduct fully hybrid or live-streamed meetings.
Currently, 45% of city council and select board meetings are fully hybrid with an additional 17% being live-streamed. School committee meetings show similar trends with 35% being fully hybrid and 25% live-streamed.
The coalition supports legislative proposal HD.368 filed by Representative Tony Cabral which aims to ensure greater accessibility for open meetings by mandating both in-person and remote attendance options.
