When conducting a survey on the use of technology in the legislative process, one of the questions I asked was “Has the legislature, as an institution or in part, resisted technology based changes?” I asked this question based on my own experience with the Massachusetts Legislature. I spent 9 years working with legislators and senior staff, and the way they sometimes approached technology was at times comical―at times frightening. My friends and I watched on―and laughed―the first time a laptop computer or an iPhone made its way onto the floor of the Massachusetts House or Senate and the members gathered around it, acting as though they were looking at an artifact that had been dropped from Mars. I also saw an older legislative drafter become befuddled and angry when he was forced to start using the “track changes” and “comment” functions on Microsoft Word rather than marking up a bill with his beloved red pencil.

Sean J. Kealy. Technology & Legislative Drafting In The United States.

Internet:<sites.bu.edu>  (adapted).