North Dakota to study livestreaming legislative meetings

BISMARCK (AP) — The North Dakota Legislature will study livestreaming committee hearings at the Capitol but also will update rules to crack down on lawmakers recording the meetings and floor sessions on their mobile phones, a committee decided Thursday.

North Dakota is one of only eight states that don’t provide live webcasts of at least some committee hearings, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Legislature’s floor sessions have been aired online since 2013. Committee meetings are taped and audio recordings are available to the public but some lawmakers have pushed to air the meetings live online to increase transparency and bring the state up with the times.

“We need to move forward on this,” said Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, who heads the Legislative Procedure and Arrangements Committee. “It might be a session or two before we have it in every room.”

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