Raleigh, N.C. – Live video streaming from the floor of the North Carolina House of Representatives will begin this week with a scaled-back camera setup due to installation delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Office of Speaker Tim Moore announced Monday.
The North Carolina House voted 115-1 to approve House Bill 281 Broadcast NC House of Reps Sessions last year, legislation sponsored by Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell), Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln), and Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus).
Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) directed the House to begin preparing a professional, multi-camera production of its floor proceedings in the upcoming legislative session, but supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans.
A live video stream of the upcoming state House session will still be broadcast on YouTube, however, through fixed cameras providing overhead views of the floor of the chamber.
The state House also began live video streams of its remote committee meetings on April 14, 2020, that are expected to continue leading up to the legislative session.
Speaker Moore and sponsors of H.B. 281 released a joint statement:
“The North Carolina House will begin to provide unprecedented live video streams of our floor proceedings in the upcoming legislative session despite a disruption of our main camera installations in the chamber,” Speaker Moore and Reps. Hall, Jones, and Saine said in a joint statement.“We expect to have the full multi-camera production ready for the long session in 2021 and appreciate the work of our General Assembly staff to offer this transparency to the public from the people’s House as we prepare an emergency response package to support them through this pandemic.”