The change would provide greater public access to proceedings in Utah's Statehouse, expanding on the live and archived floor debates already available online.

"The more open and transparent we can make our actions to the public the better our decisions will be," said House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City.

The new recordings of committee hearings will differ from the existing recordings of floor debates. The existing audio and video from past sessions are linked to each individual bill listed on the Legislature's Web site, http://www. le.state.ut.us. But lawmakers have approved only live audio and audio recordings for committee hearings, avoiding the cost of purchasing new video cameras. And staffers will not break down those recordings based on topic. Rather, the entire committee hearing - which could last hours - will be included in one large audio file.

Lawmakers agreed to break down those large files into topic-specific chunks when their staff becomes adequately trained and new computers become available.

The new audio options will have a start-up price tag of $4,328, which will pay for a system that allows committee chairmen to control when the proceedings are broadcast online. The staff also will use the money to buy an uninterruptible power supply to ensure that the public can still listen in despite any power surges or outages.

The new committee audio feeds will start in the next month or two and will be available for all legislative interim committees and task force hearings. All standing and budgetary committee hearings also will be online starting next January, when the 2006 General Session begins.

Legislators in other states offer a similar service, some even include video, according to Mark Allen, who works in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

"Everything has its day and its time," Senate Majority Leader Peter Knudson said. "We have evolved tech- nologically."

mcanham@sltrib.com