GUIDELINES REGARDING
LEGISLATOR USE OF A STATE-SUPPORTED WEB SITE

The Legislature recognizes that the free and open exchange of information is essential to our democratic form of government and that the Internet provides a useful means of facilitating the communication and exchange of information about state government between the citizens of the state and their elected representatives. The following guidelines reflect that purpose:

1. Information posted on the Web site maintained for the Wisconsin Legislature is limited to matters in the public interest and excludes private and campaign-related matters. The principles underlying Chapters 11 and 19 of the Wisconsin Statutes, relating to campaign financing and the code of ethics for public officials, respectively, are applicable and shall govern the use of state-supported Web sites by members. A posting to a member's newspage is considered as one of the pieces of substantially identical material specified in s. 11.33 (1) (a), Wisconsin Statutes.
2. The Wisconsin Legislature's general home page (titled "Wisconsin State Legislature," hereafter cited as "WSL") links to a variety of information, including Wisconsin acts, Wisconsin Statutes, text and history of legislative proposals, the Bulletin of Proceedings index, e-mail addresses, calendar of public hearings, and home pages of legislative support agencies. In addition, each member has an individual home page which is linked to the WSL home page, providing uniform information extracted from the most recent edition of the Wisconsin Blue Book, and updated as necessary. Each member may also create a newspage, linked to the WSL home page and the member's home page, which contains additional information provided at the member's discretion.
3. Technical support for the Wisconsin Legislature's Web site is provided by the staff of the Wisconsin Legislative Technology Services Bureau (LTSB). The Legislative Reference Bureau is responsible for collecting and validating the biographic and demographic data contained on the WSL and individual legislative home pages. Each legislative office is responsible for the contents of their own newspage.
4. Links to other Web sites are available on the WSL home page. Members may add links on their individual home page and newspage to Web sites maintained by or for governmental agencies within the United States of America. No other links are permitted. All additional links must be reported to the Webmaster and the respective Chief Clerk.

Adopted March 1997 and revised May 2000 by Joint Committee on Legislative Organization.