In January, Idaho Public Television will provide live streaming on the internet of some of the important meetings of the Idaho Legislature. The average Idahoan with a high speed internet connection will have access to meetings of the powerful Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC), and House and Senate floor meetings.

There are minimum requirements, including Windows Media Player, for viewing the proceedings on your home computer, but nothing extreme.

And don’t forget that once the 2007 session begins, you are only a phone call or an email away from your legislators. The Legislative Information Center is always open during regular business hours when the legislature is in session. It is staffed by some amazingly knowledgeable, helpful individuals, and by a few persons with short attention spans, even shorter fuses, no knowledge of the legislators, no spelling skills or depth of vocabulary, and little or no patience. It should come as no surprise that sometimes they are the same people. They do have an occasionally stressful assignment, and we should cut them some slack. Usually. And they should always strive to do their best, and to remember who it is that pays their salaries. That would be the annoying folks on the other end of their phone lines.

The ramifications of instant transmission of legislator performance and senate/house/JFAC deliberations are many. One can only hope that legislators will remember that at any given moment their demeanor, words and votes during these meetings are visible to the voters in their district.

On the other hand, it is nearly impossible for the average taxpayer to catch all the subtleties of legislative action, such as interpersonal tensions/alliances, what’s happening in the gallery, and protocol. It might be useful to read the House and Senate rules and become familiar with leadership of both parties in the House and the Senate. And above all, monitor the TrishAndHalli.com website for insights to the legislative process that you will find nowhere else!