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States that Purchase  Laptops or Personal Computers for Legislators' Use in the Chamber*

2008 Legislative Sessions
Updated 2/14/08

State	Approx. Startup Date	Internet Access Provided While in Session?	External E-Mail Access Provided While in Session?
Alabama	1999	Yes	Yes
Arizona	1998	Yes	Yes
Arkansas House Arkansas Senate	1996 1997	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
California	1995	Yes	No
Colorado	1999	Yes	Yes, but not during third readings1
Connecticut	1998	Yes	Yes
Delaware	2007	Yes	Yes
Florida House Florida Senate	1991 1997	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Georgia	2000	Yes	Yes
Hawaii House Hawaii Senate	2003 2008	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Idaho	2001	Yes	Yes
Illinois	1996	Yes	Yes
Indiana	1994	Yes	Yes
Iowa House Iowa Senate	1997 1996	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Kansas	2006	Yes	Yes
Kentucky	1998	No	No
Louisiana	1998	Yes	Yes
Maryland House Maryland Senate	2000 1999	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Michigan House Michigan Senate	2000 1990	Yes No	Yes Yes
Minnesota House Minnesota Senate	1997 1998	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Mississippi	1997	Yes	Yes
Missouri House	1997	No	Yes
Montana2	2007	Yes	Yes
Nebraska	1997	Yes	Yes
Nevada	1997	Yes	Yes
New Mexico	1998	Yes	Yes
North Carolina House North Carolina Senate	2000 20083	Yes No	Yes No
North Dakota	1997	Yes	Yes
Ohio	2001	No	No
Oklahoma House Oklahoma Senate	1998 2007	Yes	Yes
Oregon House	2007	Yes	Yes
Pennsylvania House	1999	Yes	Yes
Rhode Island	2003	No	No
South Carolina	1999	Yes4	Yes
South Dakota	1999	Yes	Yes
Tennessee	1999	Yes	Yes
Texas House Texas Senate	1996 1997	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Utah	1997	Yes	Yes
Virginia	1999	Yes	Yes
Washington House Washington Senate	1998 1999	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
West Virginia House	2001	No	No
Wisconsin Assembly	1999	Yes	Yes
Wyoming	2002	Yes	Yes

    Total: 43 states: States not listed: Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont.

* Does not imply that laptops may be used only in the chamber—most states provide laptops for use anywhere; in a few states, computers or laptops are attached to or locked down to the chamber desk.  Additional states may allow legislators to bring personally-owned laptops into the chamber.

¹ The use of technology in the Chambers has varied and is controlled by Rule.  The current rule is: "During the third reading of bills, members shall not use any electronic devices for the purpose of transmitting or receiving voice or data communications, including but not limited to electronic mail and text messaging."

² Laptops are not purchased for legislators, but in 2007, an appropriation allowed for legislators to purchase their own laptops to be used for legislative business. 

³ The Senate approved use of computers in the Senate in 2007, date of implementation is not yet known.

⁴ The chamber equipment is limited to the legislature's web site and a few other select sites during session.

We encourage you to help us keep this information accurate and current.  Please contact Pam Greenberg at 303-364-7700 ext. 1413 or at pam.greenberg@ncsl.org with any updates or corrections to this list.

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