The purpose of this hearing is examine how state legislatures are using information technology to help facilitate the legislative process. During the 1999 legislative sessions, 29 state bodies provided Members with laptop/PC access in the chamber and many of the states provided Members both e-mail and Internet access while in session.

Specifically, we will take an overall look at how this technology can be adopted by the House of Representatives in a responsible way. Congress is not a one dimensional institution. It has many functions and responsibilities -- among them to deliberate, to legislate, to educate and to communicate. Each of these functions and responsibilities is affected differently by institutional change. Where technology may improve the efficiency of Congress’ internal operations and enhance our ability to publish documents, track legislation, and communicate with constituents and with each other, it may have detrimental effects on our legislative responsibilities.

In 1996, I became concerned that Congress was moving rapidly toward the information age without having a full appreciation for how these new technologies might impact the legislative process. So I established “The 21st Century Congress Project” to assess the potential implications of future technology utilization on the legislative process, and to recommend proposals for change.

This will be the third hearing we have had to examine the impact of technology on decision-making and legislating. In our 1996 hearing, we combined video-conferencing with television, e-mail and the Internet to create the first interactive congressional hearing. While people watched on CSPAN, they were invited to read the prepared testimony on our Web site and e-mail questions that I read to the witnesses.

All of our witnesses today have been actively involved in the transformation of their respective state legislatures’ through the use of technology and have a great deal of experience in the issue of how and why this technology has been applied.

Before introducing them, however, I’d like to call on my friend from South Boston, Mr. Moakley, for any opening statement he might have.