>State Sen. Loretta Weinberg is pushing legislation that would prohibit public officials from texting and emailing at public meetings.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
BY EVONNE COUTROS
The Record
STAFF WRITER
Full story: https://www.northjersey.com/news/104655769_Bill_creates_no-technology_zone.html
Turn off the cellphones, stop the texting, and put away the smart phones.
That’s the instant message that state Sen. Loretta Weinberg wants to send public officials with legislation that updates the open public meetings law. A revision of the law that’s more than three decades old would restrict the use of technology for texting and e-mailing at town council and board meetings.
The bill is a revision of the Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act, to provide greater public access to meetings of public bodies and to information about those meetings.
“When these laws were first implemented, nobody had ever heard of such technology, so it was obviously not covered,” Weinberg said. “Subsequently, as the technology became more commonly used, it’s led to other political implications.”
Texting and e-mailing at meetings is not uncommon and has been witnessed by Weinberg and many in the public sector who attend local government meetings. Prohibiting the use of such devices by public officials at local municipal meetings is logical, Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and some officials say.
“It is not illegal to do,” Weinberg said of current practices. “But it certainly could be used to get around the Open Public Meetings Act.
“We’re all somewhat addicted to these BlackBerrys to check our e-mail and send messages,” she said, adding that public officials could certainly live with the disconnection from their e-mails and texts for two hours during scheduled meetings.
full story:
https://www.northjersey.com/news/104655769_Bill_creates_no-technology_zone.html
