British Columbia made history on June 22, 2020, when the Legislative Assembly. held its first hybrid sitting. Due to public health measures that required physical distancing, a maximum of 25 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were permitted to be physically in the Chamber, with other Members participating in proceedings remotely. The sitting marked the first time in B.C.'s nearly 150-year history as a province in which a majority of its MLAs fulfilled their duties while not physically present in the Chamber.
On March 16, 2020, as COVID-19 began to spread in British Columbia, the Provincial Health Officer put in place province-wide public health measures, including a prohibition on gatherings of more than 50 people. Within days, the Government of B.C. declared a state of emergency and the Provincial Health Officer ordered further restrictions on commerce, travel and public services.
On March 23, 2020, the House met for a special one-day sitting and adopted a motion that, for the first known time in its history, allowed MLAs to "speak and vote from a seat other than their assigned place." This change made it possible for Members to safely confront the economic and health crises facing the province while maintaining the required physical distance from one another. Parliamentary committees shifted to exclusively virtual meetings and public consultations, which allowed for continued public participation from British Columbians across the province.
While the House stood in recess from March through June 2020, the Speaker, House Leaders, and the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly worked with the staff from the Information Technology Department and Hansard Broadcasting to enable some Members of the Legislative Assembly to conduct their parliamentary work remotely through videoconferencing technology. New Sessional Orders temporarily amended the rules that set out how the House does things like vote, raise questions, and present petitions, were adopted so that the Legislative Assembly could undertake its business in this new reality.
