School boards across Indiana may lose the ability to individually decide whether to permit public comments during their meetings under legislation pending at the Indiana House.
House Bill 1130, which won unanimous committee approval Wednesday, mandates the governing body of school corporations allow any person physically present at a school board meeting to address the board for at least three minutes.
Under the plan, a school board "may adopt reasonable rules to govern the taking of oral public comment." Though "each member of the public may not be allotted less than three minutes to comment on each topic."
State Rep. Tim O'Brien, R-Evansville, did not say whether each audience member would repeatedly be entitled to speak for three minutes on every issue listed on the school board agenda.
He did note, however, the board would not be required to interact with the speaker or answer any questions posed by the speaker, but every person in the audience who wishes to speak must be given time to do so at some point during the meeting.
The legislation also provides that school boards retain the right to take "reasonable steps to maintain order in a meeting," including "removal of any person who is willfully disruptive of the meeting."
"Public input is vital and Hoosiers must be able to have themselves heard on issues in their communities," O'Brien said.
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