A group of Ohio lawmakers believes public bodies within the state should be required to allow public comment before decisions are made. It may come as a surprise to you that is not already the case, but state law requires only that the public be allowed to attend and/or listen to meetings.

House Bill 609 would address that barrier to civic engagement with a revision “to require a public body to allow for public commentary and testimony before taking formal action on any item.”

State Reps. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, and Meredith Craig, R-Smithville, are leading the bipartisan effort, which would also prohibit those public bodies from requiring people to get approval or register before the start of the meeting to speak. It also would stop public bodies from holding special meetings without 24 hours notice.

Of course, the age of social media keyboard warriors and those who revel in nastiness for its own sake — wishing to badger and belittle rather than actually be part of creating the change they say they seek — has made elected officials wary of letting the public interact with them during meetings.

That is understandable, but cannot be used as an excuse to keep the public from being able to weigh in on matters that affect them, their families and their communities. In fact, one would think elected officials would feel a bit nervous about passing laws or changing rules WITHOUT input from the public they serve.

Elected officials serve their constituents. Their job is to work on behalf of the rest of us. Legislators must waste no time ensuring public bodies are not able to stay in their own echo chambers to make decisions without input from the people who will be affected.