Going “paperless” is a good idea for the State House, which produces mountains of paper waste each year, but legislators are going about this change the wrong way.

It appears House Clerk Millicent MacFarland is proceeding with a project, which will cost $185,000 for the software alone, despite the fact that only $35,000 for a pilot project has been approved.

Once the software is ready, legislators would receive the text of bills and amendments electronically on laptops. They would also be able to access past votes, cost estimates and committee recommendations from their computers. Legislators would pay for laptops out of their stipend for constituent services.

The program is a good idea because it could allow legislators to access the information they need easily, and it could save the state money on printing bills and the staff needed to print and distribute the paper copies. In short, it’s a 21st-century solution to a 20th-century problem – paper waste.

Unfortunately, legislative leaders are going about adoption of the program, which doesn’t have universal support, the wrong way – pushing the project through with money left over in another account and with little opportunity for those opposing it to object. House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, who can’t seek re-election because of term limits, is behind the project, along with MacFarland.

The Legislative Council, which is made up of leaders from the House and Senate, approved $45,000 for a pilot project at the beginning of the year. The $45,000 was to pay for $35,000 of software development and $10,000 for 10 new laptops.

However, $85,000 has already been paid to International Roll-Call, the Virginia company developing the system. Last month, members of the Legislative Council received a ballot to approve using $65,000 left in the House’s telephone and postage budget “for enhancing and automating computer applications in the House chamber.”

Ballots are usually distributed when matters need immediate attention, before one of the Legislative Council’s monthly meetings.

Minority Leader Sen. Carol Weston, R-Waldo, voted against the fund transfer. Weston, who opposes the paperless program, said she asked repeatedly what the money was for and could not get an answer.

Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Cumberland, who supports the program, said she, too, didn’t know the money was being approved to support the full implementation of the project. “No, I did not know that and it doesn’t seem right to me. I think we need to have a conversation. What I want is clarity. I want to be clear about what was being asked,” she said.

Cummings said MacFarland did explain the expenditure to some members of the Legislative Council, such as Assistant Minority Leader Sen. John Martin. “It wasn’t the whole Legislative Council,” he said.

This is the type of legislative maneuvering that makes people cynical about politics because it appears as though legislators are trying to slip something by other legislators and the public. Before the state proceeds with this program, Cummings and MacFarland should tell the Legislative Council – all of them – what they’re voting on.

Brendan Moran, editor