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VIDEO RELEASE: Video Documentation and Live Streaming Coming to Va. General Assembly
Progress Virginia announces new “Eyes on Richmond” program to bring transparency to Richmond; will put cameras and live feeds in most committee hearings
**A video release is available online here**
Progress Virginia today announced an ambitious and unprecedented new project to bring transparency to the Virginia General Assembly by providing daily live streams of House and Senate committee hearings. The leading progressive organization said “Eyes on Richmond” will open the doors of the General Assembly to constituents across the commonwealth.
“Virginia’s legislature is purposefully opaque to the citizens it’s supposed to be serving,” said Progress Virginia executive director Anna Scholl. “But this is one area where we don’t have to wait for politicians to take action. I’m thrilled today to announce the launch of “Eyes on Richmond,” an ambitious new radical transparency project that will put cameras in General Assembly committee hearings and broadcast the proceedings live on the internet. Elected officials are there to do our business and now more citizens than ever before we be able to monitor those actions in real time.”
When the Virginia General Assembly convenes for a 45-day session on Wednesday, January 11th, they will face decisions on thousands of legislative proposals. In order to progress, all those bills will have to go through committee and maybe even subcommittee hearings. Until now, those hearings have been accessible only to those Virginians whose job is it to attend them or who are able to take time off of work to travel to Richmond on short notice. A recent investigation by the Daily Press found Virginia is one of only 9 states that do not broadcast audio or video from legislative committee hearings.
Progress Virginia’s session live feeds may be found online once session begins at www.EyesonRichmond.org. Additional notifications concerning committee feeds will be provided on the organization’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. Video footage will be permanently archived online for public access.
To download a video version on this press release, please click here.
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