After a dispute over the meeting's start time, some members of the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee weren't able to participate Saturday in a vote that revived a bill saying internet providers would have to give consumers an option to opt in or opt out of receiving hard-core pornography.
The committee chair, Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, said during the hearing that Democrats who joined the meeting over Zoom before he gaveled the end of the roll call but after he'd called out their names and declared them absent and unexcused from the meeting, could not vote.
"You weren't here at the roundup and you were unexcused, so you don't get to vote in the meeting," Skees told a Democrat who asked why they weren't allowed to vote. "There was a roll call, if you're not here and didn't talk to me about not attending, you're unexcused. If you're unexcused, you don't get to participate."