House OK’s bill to extend remote and hybrid meeting authorizations

The House today passed a bill that would extend the authorizations for local boards and committees to hold public meetings remotely or in a hybrid format for more than two more years.

The bill, H. 62, would also extend the remote meeting option for representative town meetings and permit reduced quorums for open town meetings. The extensions would run through June 30, 2027.

The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

The remote and hybrid authorizations under the state’s open meeting law were first created as emergency accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have proven to be popular and successful, and have been extended several times in the five years since, but they are now due to expire on March 31.

Making these provisions permanent in state law continues to be a priority for the MMA this legislative session. The MMA strongly supports legislation to accomplish this goal, including Gov. Maura Healey’s re-introduced Municipal Empowerment Act and standalone bills (H. 3342 and S. 2197) filed by Rep. Danielle Gregoire and Sen. Jacob Oliveira, respectively.

Last month, the MMA joined with other organizations involved with local government to offer strong support for legislation to preserve the current authorization to hold remote and hybrid public meetings in Massachusetts. Earlier this month, a group of business and housing groups also weighed in with the Legislature to ensure the current authorizations continued.