Proposals are in the works to limit the use of laptops, BlackBerries and cell phones in committee hearings and on the House floor to prevent lobbyists from using the electronic devices to send messages to legislators.

“It’s highly improper for lobbyists to be text messaging to a legislator and then have the legislator asking the question,” on the lobbyist’s behalf, said Sen. John Martin, D-Aroostook County.

Martin is Senate chairman of the Committee on Joint Rules. He was considering some sort of limit on the use of electronic equipment for the full Legislature, but opted instead to ask the chairmen of the Legislature’s standing committees to adopt their own rules.

“I’m not sure how to do it,” Martin said, but, “It’s an issue we need to deal with.”

Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, House chairman of the rules committee, is submitting a proposal for just the House to consider. He said he was angered last year when he realized a lobbyist was sending a speech to a representative over the computer from the House gallery.

“It was a speech that somebody got up on the floor and made,” he said.

Gerzofsky said the issue became blatant last year when it appeared lobbyists were using text messaging and e-mails to get around the rules. Lobbyists are not allowed in the House chamber when it is conducting business.

Gerzofsky stops short of calling for a ban on laptops in the House chamber, which like the rest of the State House, is equipped with a wireless network connection to the Internet. “We want to look at appropriate use of electronic devices,” he said.

Rep. Don Pilon, D-Saco, has put a bill in to restrict the use of computers and BlackBerries, the hand-held, cell-phone like devices that connect with the Internet. Pilon served last session on the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, which reviewed the controversial Dirigo Health insurance legislation. He said he witnessed BlackBerries and computers being used during work sessions and public hearings “where lobbyists were contacting members of my committee.”

“I was looking at representatives on both sides of me and I know these guys don’t know that much about this issue,” he said, asking himself, “Where are they getting this information?”

Pilon would like to see laptops banned outright in committees during hearings, when members of the public have come to testify. On top of allowing lobbyists undue access, he said some legislators pay more attention to their laptops than the business at hand.

“It’s a distraction and it’s rude,” he said. “They’re not giving the public their full attention”