Computers Bring Down Load of Trouble

In one of his first acts as the new leader of the Senate two years ago, Bill Lockyer ordered the tradition-bound chamber into the high-tech age by outfitting all 40 senators with laptop computers at their desks.

But after spending $1.2 million, the Senate finds itself relying on what was to have been made obsolete--paper.

Lockyer, a Hayward Democrat, estimates that only about 10 senators regularly or occasionally use their laptops.

The story behind what has happened is as much a tale about a staid institution, where modernization can be measured in millimeters and votes are still taken by calling out the names of all senators in seemingly endless roll calls, as it is about faulty electronics.

It all seemed so simple a couple years back, when Lockyer demanded that every senator’s desk be equipped with a $7,500 “idiot-proof” laptop computer at a total cost of about $750,000, including installation expenditures.

But many senators--particularly veterans unaccustomed to using computers--found the state-of-the-art system too complicated, slow and unreliable for easy reading of bills and other documents.

At their worst, the computers would freeze, particularly during periods of heavy pressure, and cause long delays, occasionally paralyzing floor sessions.

So the senators mostly ignored the system, and they prevailed on Lockyer to return to the familiar system of paper bills and digests.

After repeated warnings, Lockyer and the Rules Committee fired the chief computer technician, and the 2-year-old computer system was virtually booted out.

Undaunted, and determined to bring the hidebound Senate into the computer age, Lockyer recently had a new system installed. This one is based on a highly simplified “coloring book” set of laptops whose screens resemble toy computers.

The keyboard buttons and type size are larger, the better for aging eyes, and the icons more cartoonish. Computer commands are made by touching a finger against the screen. The cost: $508,000.

“We are getting them down as close to coloring book form as we possibly can,” said Senate Secretary Greg Schmidt. “For people who don’t use computers in any other facet of their life, you have to keep it as easy as you can.”

But to Lockyer’s chagrin, the new system is drawing complaints, surprisingly even his own.

He recently threatened to fire the new computer manager. Making matters worse, computer experts say fixing the new problems may cost $60,000 or more.

Lockyer, while troubled over the $1.2 million spent so far with disappointing results, believes the investment will ultimately pay off.

“I’m not claiming it is perfect, but it is certainly far better than the old paper blizzard system,” Lockyer said last week after one frustrated senator demanded that the “coloring book” laptops be junked.

The senator making the demand was Steve Peace (D-El Cajon), who was driven over the edge last Thursday when the system went into another of its routine slow motion funks.

Peace, who like Lockyer is well-known for a hair-trigger temper, marched up to the Senate’s leader and insisted he “get rid of these damned computers. They’re so slow.”

Lockyer bristled. Face-to-face, they exchanged words and Peace returned to his desk, where the disagreement resumed moments later in a display of wildly gesturing arms.

At that point, Sen. Tim Leslie (R-Carnelian Bay), who received national attention last year as the target of an alleged death threat on the Internet, stood up to praise the Senate computers.

“I think they are working well,” he said. “I don’t have all the paper on my desk.”

The Assembly operates a separate and simpler computer system that seems to function without the difficulties of its more complex Senate counterpart.

“I’m pretty happy with our system,” said Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), a legislative expert on electronic information systems. “I use it all the time. At this point, it doesn’t completely replace paper, and I still rely on notes from my staff.”

Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who regularly uses his computer, gave the Senate system a mixed review. “I don’t want to sound negative, but it is awfully slow. The paper was actually faster, but it’s certainly convenient not to have all the paper.”

Lockyer says his staff is investigating cures. Asked whether additional costs for hardware might run as much as $120,000, Lockyer said a specific price tag was “‘too speculative.”

A Lockyer aide confirmed that new hardware for the Legislature’s “mother computer” is being looked at, but estimated the cost at $15,000 to $60,000.