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Introduction Acknowledgements Executive Summary Scope and Purpose of Report Background Methodology Legislator Information Explanations of Legislative Process Legislative Tracking and Monitoring Legislative Administration State Resources Statements Addressing User Expectations Site Design Site Navigation Conclusion Overview of State Legislatures State Legislative Resource Websites Federal Territories Practices of Note

Plugged In, Tuning Up (March 2001) METHODOLOGY In order to provide an initial set of considerations for further review, OMB Watch undertook a review of available state legislative resources to locate main features and content areas, and to identify key elements that can facilitate, and inhibit, public use and constituent access to the legislature, legislators, and the legislative process. For this report, 51 legislative web resources were examined. A separate section is devoted in this report to the web resources of the American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We began by first locating those websites identified by the states themselves as the central site for their legislative bodies. Two from one state, New York, were examined since there is no centralized legislative web resource; content and features are distributed across the state's Senate and General Assembly sites. Between July and December 2000, each state legislative website was reviewed twice. The findings of this report reflect what was accesible during that time period. Services, features and content may have been addedd, edited, or deleted since then. Each site was examined using both Netscape Navigator 4.x and Internet Explorer 5.x browsers when necessary to compensate for any appreciable differences in design. Each website visit lasted roughly ten minutes, in order to simulate an average user's experience. During this time, every attempt was made locate main content areas and key features found using the available documentation and help functions on the site. Items Assessed The ability of states to implement and experiment with the Internet lays at the mercy of both the rapidly evolving nature of the technology itself and the changing makeup of legislative bodies. We therefore did not assess sites in terms of each state's budget, staff, and time resources. Instead the following items were examined, each explained in greater detail in this report: • Legislator Information • Explanations of Legislative Process • Legislative Tracking and Monitoring • Legislative Administration • State Resources • Usage Statements • Site Design • Site Navigation A comparison table showing how each state stacks up with respect to the key features outlined accompanies each section. We have attempted to provide an overall collective snapshot of state legislatures current online efforts to highlight key issues that are relevant for each state in an effort to foster more and more informed dialogue and attention. At the end of each section, we have added a listing of promising practices and cautionary points to consider.