LANSING – A bill aimed at stopping elected officials from casting votes over the phone or an Internet video service is headed to the House floor after being reported from the House Oversight, Reform and Ethics Committee on Tuesday.

HB 5335 , sponsored by Rep. Richard LeBlanc (D-Westland), aims to clarify the Open Meetings Act and stop what has been a growing trend of public officials casting votes by teleconference or the Internet video chat service Skype.

A substitute was added to clarify that a public meeting can only take place if a quorum of members is physically present. The language was added to keep a public body from conducting a meeting where no members were actually present and someone attending the meeting would just see a table full of computer monitors showing elected officials attending the meeting remotely.

Language was also struck from the bill after concerns were raised that it might limit the ability of the public to speak at meetings.

The bill would still allow members to attend public meetings using the phone or the Internet, but they could not vote. If the public body did vote, it would be in violation of the law.

Rep. Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) said she had a concern with not allowing a member to vote if he or she had participated in the meeting.

She also said that using a service like Skype allows people to see if the official is paying attention during the meeting, where using a teleconference does not.

Brown offered an amendment that would tie-bar the bill to HJR Y , a constitutional amendment that would dock legislators’ pay if they fail to show up at work.

She said there should be accountability for legislators as well, and said lawmakers have at times taken vacations when there were important votes on the agenda.

LeBlanc said he was unaware of the amendment, and several members questioned its relevance to the bill at hand. The amendment failed.

Afterward the bill was reported unanimously, with Brown abstaining.

The Department of Attorney General supported the bill. The Michigan Townships Association opposed the bill.

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