A bill requiring Colorado courts to livestream open criminal court proceedings on Webex or another videoconferencing platform won unanimous approval in the House Judiciary Committee early Thursday morning.

Committee amendments added to House Bill 23-1182 are designed to address concerns about how the remote viewing of courts affects the sequestration of witnesses, victims’ rights, defendants’ rights, and the possibility some viewers will record or take screenshots of what happens on their computer screens.

The legislation, introduced by Denver Democratic Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Javier Mabrey, heads to the House floor for debate at the same time Colorado’s judicial branch is developing its own policy on virtual access to criminal court proceedings.

The bill is “a far better approach” than the proposed chief justice directive, testified media attorney Steve Zansberg, president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. Because the judicial branch’s proposal as currently drafted would prohibit the livestreaming of trials and evidentiary hearings, it would be “a dramatic and unjustifiable step backwards from the status quo,” he told lawmakers.