Legislative leaders reject proposal to expand media access

CHEYENNE — Senate Vice President Dave Kinskey proposed a rule to fellow Wyoming legislative leaders on Thursday that would have expanded media access for photographers and video crews on the chamber floors.

The proposal came after lawmakers voted, and later rescinded, a proposal to bar media access on the chamber floor entirely.

Kinskey, R-Sheridan, proposed a rule to the Management Council that would have allowed photojournalists and TV broadcast journalists behind the bar on the chamber floor, unless otherwise directed by the presiding officer, Legislative Service Office staff or sergeant at arms.

LSO Director Matt Obrecht told the Management Council this rule change would elevate current media policy to a joint rule, as well expand access behind the bar.

House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, said it sounded like this amendment would restrict the presiding officer’s ability to remove or redirect media, as necessary, to maintain order of the governing body.

“The answer to your question is yes, a rule would restrict the presiding officer’s authority to a greater extent than the media policy does right now,” Obrecht said.

“However, I would say that, though it isn’t explicit within the rule, the presiding officer always retains the authority to control disturbances within this chamber, whether the rules grant him that authority or not.”

In explanation of his proposal, Kinskey recalled a time when a photographer asked if he could shoot from behind the bar, and the Sheridan senator said it was fine.

“It’s nice for them to be able to get a good shot, good photo,” Kinskey said. “These people are just trying to make a living, and it’s a service to the public. I just think we need to allow them to have access, and if they’re causing a problem, leadership can deal with it.”

This conversation followed statewide reports that legislative leaders had voted to ban all visual media from the chambers’ hallways. Lawmakers previously stated this was to allow for private conversations without risk of being overheard and keeping the halls clear of traffic.

However, the legislature’s Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technologies and Processes rescinded this rule change during its October meeting when news broke in outlets across the state.

Although Kinskey’s motion failed to pass the Management Council, it reopened the conversation among lawmakers about their concern of giving media access on the chamber floor.

Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, said there are times when it’s best not to have media present in the halls of the chamber.

“Having been a presiding officer, and one that’s about to have no say in it whatsoever, there’s times you want them there, there’s times you don’t,” Driskill said.

He worried the rule would give media members leverage to stay and take photos or video if the presiding officer tried to remove them. There was an incident once when a member of the media used “a directional mic leaning over the edge to pick up conversations,” Driskill said.

“You really need to have the flexibility of that presiding officer to have a handle on what’s happening in that chamber,” he said.

Sommers agreed with his colleague. Lawmakers’ desks are their offices, he said, and privacy is limited.

“It can be invasive, sometimes, when that guy’s 15 feet behind you, and you could be typing a confidential letter to a constituent,” Sommers said.

House Minority Floor Leader Mike Yin, D-Jackson, raised two major concerns with Kinskey’s proposed rule. One was that it didn’t require video or photo members to be credentialed media, nor did it define what “media” is.

“If Speaker Sommers next year decides, ‘Oh, I have a camera and I want to go behind the bar,’ the rule basically says he can do that until he’s stopped,” Yin said.

Kinskey said he didn’t mind adding an amendment to the rule that required media credentialing. This amendment was made and adopted, but the rule didn’t pass as a whole.

Jonathan Downing, who spoke on behalf of the Wyoming Press Association, said he appreciated Kinskey’s amendment.

“There have been amazing photos over the years that have been caught from behind the bar, from those side doors, from above, as well,” Downing said.

The media is good about policing itself, telling the story without becoming a part of the story, he added. There was one instance in the last 20 years where a member of the media did not abide by the rules, and the industry made sure to address that issue internally, Downing said.

Voting screens

The Management Council also approved a proposal by the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technologies and Processes to create a link on the legislative website to a voting display screen. This screen will allow members of the public to track roll call votes on bills as they’re being recorded by the chief clerk.

“A lot of people watching online through YouTube, etc., can’t hear how we vote. They get the final vote, but they don’t truly know how their legislators voted,” said committee co-Chairman Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne. “This is truly just a separate screen that would be from the LSO website where people could immediately see, in real time, how the legislators vote on bills.”

The voting screen will be color-coded to indicate whether a lawmaker voted yes, no or had a conflict of interest. It also will indicate members who are excused or absent, and show when the roll call is open or closed.

The legislators’ names will be white to begin with, and change to green with a Y before their names if they vote yes, or red with an N before their names if they vote no. Conflicts will be a separate color to be determined.