Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R,C-Deerpark) is cheering on the implementation of Assembly committee meetings finally being presented with video. The initiative was pushed in the Assembly Chamber during the 2016 session by Assembly Minority and was passed the same year, but Assembly committee meetings remained audio-only since that time. Brabenec, a proponent of transparency in state government, says it was long overdue.

“It’s about time!” Brabenec exclaimed. “It’s no secret that a lot of sneaky plays are done during committee meetings in Albany, and not all those schemes are translated very well when recorded as audio alone. The inclusion of video recording moving forward in committee meetings recommits all legislators to being transparent with their work to the public. This has been a long time coming, and I’m glad to see we’re finally making good on that vote nine years ago.”

There remain some concerns, however. Despite being presented in video, the committee meetings will not be archived for posterity.

“With the amount of money New York spends and the amount of people that are employed, the Assembly should be able to archive all committee meeting footage. That’s another important element of being transparent with the public,” said Brabenec. “We’ve taken baby steps in the right direction, but we need to continue fighting for more, for better.”