AUGUSTA — Maine legislative leaders plan to be briefed on a website disruption caused by hackers.

The Legislative Council wants to know today how the Maine Legislature’s bill status search database was hacked. The website was taken down last week.

Legislative Information Technology Director Scott Clark says the website was disabled because users’ computers could have been exposed to harm if they clicked on certain links.

Senate President Libby Mitchell and Senate Majority Leader Phil Bartlett say the bill search function is important to maintaining transparency during the legislative process. They say they’re hopeful that the search function will soon be restored.