Senator Kolkhorst, sponsor of Senate Bill 724, told the Senate Committee on Education (meeting date not specified) that the bill would require each member of a governing board of an institution of higher education to attend at least 75% of that board's meetings in person.

Kolkhorst said the proposal responds to what she described as a “post COVID era” problem in which governing boards sometimes lack quorum because members attend remotely. “Being in the present, you learn so much from other members, you get to hear the public in a better way,” she said.

The bill, as described by Kolkhorst during the committee session, would impose a civil penalty of $1,000 for a first violation; that money would be used by the institution to provide scholarships. A second violation would make the appointee ineligible for reappointment to that governing board or any other governing board, she said.

A committee member who identified service on nonprofit boards such as Feed the Children compared the proposal to private-sector expectations for in-person attendance, saying such attendance requirements are not unusual in nonprofit and private boards and “it seems to make sense for elected officials.” The committee member noted that some meetings remain hybrid but said real board meetings should be attended in person.

The committee opened public testimony on Senate Bill 724 and announced no one had registered to speak. The committee then closed public testimony and left Senate Bill 724 pending.

The discussion in committee was descriptive of the bill's provisions; the transcript does not record a committee vote or formal adoption of the bill. The sponsor did not provide statutory citations or identify a specific enforcement mechanism beyond the penalties described in the bill text laid out to the committee.

Public testimony was not taken and no formal action beyond leaving the bill pending was recorded at the hearing.