Legislators leap into cyberspace

Saturday, Jan. 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Years from now, state historians may refer to the 1997 Nevada Legislature as the cybersession.

They might also refer to it as the session in which legislators learned how to avoid public scrutiny by communicating with one another and with lobbyists via computer.

Beginning this session, Nevada lawmakers will be armed with laptop computers enabling them to scan proposed bills, store notes and handle electronic mail. Proponents say the laptops will make legislators more efficient and save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing costs.

But the move into the computer age also is raising questions about how legislators will be able to violate open meeting laws through e-mail transmissions. There also are worries over the extent to which information stored on the laptops is considered public record.

Critics are worried that committee chairmen will send e-mail to committee members asking how they'll vote on a bill. If a majority of the committee is polled, that would violate the open meeting law.

Another concern is that lobbyists will use e-mail to influence legislators just before they vote. In the old days, lobbyists walked onto the legislative floor to tell lawmakers how to vote.

That practice has been outlawed, but critics are worried that the laptops will essentially put lobbyists back onto the floor. This cyberlobbying is even worse, according to critics, because the public won't have any way of knowing which lobbyist is touching base with which legislator.

"There will always be concerns they will be doing business via laptop computers that the public may not be aware of," said Kent Lauer, executive director of the Nevada Press Association. "I hope they don't use the computers to circumvent open legislative debate."

The Panasonic laptops and software were purchased from Pythia Corp. of Indianapolis through a $700,000 contract approved by the prior Legislature. Pythia also has set up legislative computer systems in Indiana, Illinois and Mississippi.

"The younger freshmen coming in will be ecstatic," said Jim Clark, Pythia's representative in Carson City. "They're used to data highway-type work. The older fellows will like it because they're used to carrying those big bill books around. By the end of the session those books get very hefty."

State Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, owner of a computer business, is excited about the Legislature's trek into cyberspace.

As chairman of the Interim Committee on Computer Applications to the Legislative Process, he predicted that live video transmissions of committee hearings and floor votes will be transmitted to home computers within five years.

"We're opening a small window for the public to the legislative process," O'Donnell said. "Eventually it will be a barn door. There is no doubt in my mind that bringing the hearing process to the home of the people will make for better laws."

Conversion to computers is likely to travel a bumpy road, however. Nevada is expected to be one of several states this year that will grapple with proposed laws to clarify the public's right to know vs. the lawmakers' right to privacy when it comes to computer data.

With a week remaining before the opening of the 1997 session, Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich said his legal staff is continuing to review several issues regarding the laptops.

"We will try to establish some guidelines," he said. "You can have an open meeting violation now with a telephone call. Frankly, I think that's a lot easier to do than with a computer."

Last year, a reporter in Colorado requested copies of the e-mail handled by that state's governor and Senate president. Doug Brown, director of Colorado's Office of Legislative Legal Services, said the request was denied because the state had conflicting public records laws.

The question facing lawyers is whether e-mail is more like a private telephone call than a publishable letter. In a law passed last year, Colorado determined that public records include the correspondence of elected officials. But it exempted communications with constituents, including e-mail, that constituents expect to remain confidential.

Nevadans, meanwhile, will be able to e-mail their legislators at the addresses posted in today's SUN. Those transmissions will be sent to the lawmakers' secretaries in Carson City, who will transfer the communications to the legislators' laptops via private e-mail addresses.

Clark said his company is recommending that the secretaries withhold the e-mail while lawmakers are still on the floor of the Assembly and Senate. This would alleviate concerns that lobbyists would make last-minute efforts to influence votes, he said.

"What we have found in other states is that a lobbyist could sit back with their cellular (computer) system and start communicating with somebody on the floor," Clark said. "Legislators consider that like leaning back into the crowd and having a conversation."

Malkiewich said it will be up to Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, to determine e-mail policy. Lobbyists can still contact lawmakers on the floor by having handwritten messages sent to them through the sergeant of arms in both houses.

The lawmakers will receive their laptops later this week and will be trained by Pythia. Clark said the laptops are user-friendly, particularly since computer commands may be made with a simple touch of the screen as well as with a mouse.

But Assemblyman Pete Ernaut, R-Reno, predicted some legislators with virtually no computer experience will initially struggle with the laptops.

"I don't think laptops will be dominant this session because there's too steep a learning curve," Ernaut said. "It's going to take some time to transition in."

Aside from e-mail, there are other ways to learn about Nevada government through cyberspace. Internet users can receive updates on bills and legislative committees by typing in this Internet address: www.leg.state.nv.us.