Live from downtown Raleigh, the NC House may soon be broadcasting

The state House has voted to begin video broadcasting its daily sessions on the General Assembly’s website and to study whether it’s feasible to create a dedicated television channel.

Reps. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, and Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, told members of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday that broadcasting House sessions would allow constituents an inside look at what happens in Raleigh.

“The bill is ultimately about transparency,” Hall said. “Of course, we’re doing the public’s work here. The public ought to have the right and the ability to tune in and take a look at what their government is doing.”

North Carolina is one of seven states that do not currently broadcast sessions by video.

Saine compared the ability to televise House sessions to MTV’s reality show “The Real World,” where strangers are forced to live in a house together and have their lives recorded.

“We can afford our constituents that opportunity to look into what we do on a daily basis,” he said.

A fiscal note produced by the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division estimates the initial cost to the General Assembly to install the equipment and hire a new position to run the broadcast at $397,543. After the first year, it would cost about $71,000, which covers the salary and benefits for the new position.

The fiscal note explains that the legislature would have to purchase four “broadcast quality cameras,” along with establishing a control room, buying other equipment, upgrading audio capability and getting more servers and storage to archive the sessions. All of that totals $314,995.

Saine said the one-time cost of getting the equipment is a “very small investment.” The bill, as written, doesn’t include an appropriation to cover the costs.

During the committee meeting on Tuesday, Saine noted that House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, thought the bill was a good idea and that the money would be available. On Wednesday, after the vote, Moore said he already directed the House principal clerk to start the process of broadcasting the sessions over the legislature’s website.

“We’re gonna go ahead and move forward with getting that done even before the bill comes into law,” Moore said.

The bill still has to go to the Senate before it becomes law. So far, the Senate leadership hasn’t said whether or not they’d want to join in on the House’s efforts to increase transparency.

In February, after the bill was filed, Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said the idea of broadcasting Senate sessions would be worth considering.

“I think the question has been mechanically and technologically how you do that,” he said. “If they (House leaders) do it, we’ll clearly look to see how that works. I’m not opposed to televising Senate sessions. ... I just don’t know how you handle the cost of that, where you put the cameras, how they’re manned. ... Those need to be worked out.”

The Senate recently expanded its audio streams to include a frequently used committee room in the Legislative Building.

The bill also establishes a study committee to look at expanding it to a dedicated channel with UNC-TV. The cost for expanding out to that channel would be part of the study committee’s work.

“This bill does not create the new NC C-SPAN, so to speak,” Hall said.

Insider Editor Colin Campbell contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 6:40 PM with the headline "Live from downtown Raleigh, the NC House may soon be broadcasting."