Remote testimony for state Senate meetings a go at CBC

The principal and select students of Delta High School are scheduled to be the first to use a new remote testimony setup at Columbia Basin College.

The decision comes less than two weeks after Senate staff began reviewing potential sites away from Olympia for public testimony.

The Delta High group will speak Feb. 4 before the state Senate Committee on Trade and Economic Development on the importance of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, education, said state Sen. Sharon Brown. Brown, R-Kennewick, chairs the committee.

“We did a test of the system ... and everything went beautifully,” she said.

The testimony will be given during a committee work session, not a hearing, and details about how the system will be used in the future at CBC and other sites around the state haven’t been determined.

Still, state lawmakers and CBC officials applauded the move, saying it’s paving the way for greater participation in the state’s business.

“It extends democracy, it allows diversity in representation, it provides voice,” said CBC President Rich Cummins.

State Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, initiated efforts to spread use of remote testimony, which has been used previously but mostly just for experts, not the general public to weigh in on state policy issues.

A test run of the a similar set up at Spokane Community College in November allowed several members of the public to testify to Padden’s state Senate Law & Justice Committee.

A room in the CH2M Hill Technology Center in the northeast corner of CBC’s Pasco campus will house the remote testimony system, Cummins said.

Workers are currently painting the room and a new larger television to show a video feed from Senate hearing rooms is on order. There will be enough room for four to five people to sit and give testimony at once, with seats for another 10 or so in the audience.

There are still steps to take and procedures to develop before such a system can be used for testimony on bills and official committee hearings, Brown said.

“The political process is meant to be open, it’s meant to be inclusive,” she said.

This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Remote testimony for state Senate meetings a go at CBC."