Ohio state senator Andrew Brenner (R-District 19) Zoomed into a virtual committee meeting from his office in the historic Capitol Senate Building.  Or did he?  Members wondered why he appeared to be wearing a seatbelt.  Confused colleagues soon surmised that he was actually driving in his car with a Zoom background selected to give the impression that he was at work.  The senator was appropriately focused on his driving (he can be seen signaling his lane changes and checking his mirrors), but was he also focused on the state budget, which was the topic of the debate?

It is not surprising that the same legislators who closed schools, workplaces, and churches are some of the very last people in the country going back to work in person.  But many are legislating remotely while working another job, eating in a restaurant, vacationing, or distracted at home.  Some turn their cameras off, so you don't know what they are up to.  It is long past time for legislators to join their constituents, who have gone back to work in person. 

"You made me miss roll call because I couldn't unmute, because you were f------ cussing." Kentucky senator Denise Harper (D-Jefferson) screamed to her husband, as well as everyone else who was listening to her unmuted argument piped into a committee room over Zoom.  Some mistakes are more than simply an embarrassing hot mic situation, however.

On July 1, THC-infused food and beverages became legal to make, sell, and consume in Minnesota.  The bill's author, Rep. Heather Edelson (D-District 49), testified that she was merely adding child safety protections to currently legal products, telling HHS committee members that the products "are on the shelves in every single one of your communities, and this bill would require child safety packaging, ban packaging that targets kids, and require the products to be sold to those 21 or older."  But her bill actually legalized previously banned intoxicating THC in food and drinks.

"That doesn't legalize marijuana — we just didn't do that, did we?" Sen. Jim Abeler (R-35) asked as the amendment carrying the language was slipped into a 475-page omnibus bill.  Rep. Tina Liebling (D-26), his Democratic counterpart, said, "Oh, are you kidding?  Of course you have.  No, just kidding."  The two legislators were not in the same city at the time.  Neither of the two chairs seem to grasp that they were legalizing untaxed, unlicensed, and basically unregulated THC products in candy, beer, and snacks with zero appropriation, leaving a large mess for local governments and police to clean up.

It is impossible to believe that this mistake would have occurred if the legislators were not working remotely from their homes, cabins, workplaces, or cars.

Sometimes by design, and other times by the inherent clumsiness of virtual committee discussion, remote legislating limits members' questions and input.  More importantly, it eliminates crucial in-person, informal discussions with staff, testifiers, and colleagues who are key in catching legislative mistakes and chicanery.

Some jobs can be done remotely.  Legislating is obviously not one of them.

Matt Dean (mdean@heartland.org) is senior fellow for health care policy outreach at The Heartland Institute.

Image: Zoom.