After sitting in committee more than a month, a bill updating the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) to allow remote meetings was voted out of committee and passed to the Rules Committee for further consideration.

HB 1056 updates the OPMA, allowing jurisdictions to hold remote meetings during a declared emergency. On March 17, the bill was voted out of the Senate State Government & Elections Committee with a striking amendment. The striking amendment was fairly simple; it added a clause allowing public agencies that held some regular meetings remotely prior to March 1, 2020, to continue to do so without the need of a declared emergency.

AWC supports this bill and applauds legislators for taking action to update the OPMA for the first time in decades.

As a reminder, Phase 3 of the state’s Healthy Washington: Roadmap to Recovery Plan is scheduled to being on March 22. The Governor’s Office has shared with AWC that public meetings under Phase 3 will increase the permitted capacity from 25% to 50% of the posted room capacity. Cities in Phase 3 are still required to provide the public with virtual access to meetings, at a minimum, via telephone.

HB 1329 also continues to advance in the Senate. The bill encourages cities to provide remote access to public meetings and make recordings of meetings available to the public. Additionally, the bill would require cities to provide an opportunity for public comment at or before every regular meeting at which final action is taken (except in emergencies).

Dates to remember

HB 1329 is scheduled for executive session in the Senate State Government & Elections Committee on Wednesday, March 24 at 8 am.