NEW: General Assembly Offers Wi-Fi Access

NEW: General Assembly Offers Wi-Fi Access

The General Assembly now offers Wi-Fi accessibility for members of the general public and the media. As of today, Wi-Fi is available in the House and Senate chambers and galleries, all committee rooms and in the hallways outside the chambers and committee rooms.

“This is another step in our concerted effort to upgrade the General Assembly’s technology in order to provide a more transparent and accessible legislature,” said Speaker of the House Gordon D. Fox. “During the pension reform hearings and debate last fall, we received a number of requests from the public and the media to have access to the social media world from our chambers and hearing rooms. We invested in this upgrade and it was installed during our February recess last week.”

Speaker Fox added that both he and President of the Senate M. Teresa Paiva Weed are committed to the technological upgrades, which began last year by making all House and Senate floor votes available on the General Assembly’s website instantaneously, as well as all votes in House and Senate committees recorded on the website within 24 hours.

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President Paiva Weed said, “Wi-Fi access in the State House enables the public to read bills, see committee agendas or obtain information from other websites on their personal devices while in the State House. I remain committed to working together with Speaker Fox to continue to make upgrades in technology that improve the transparency and accountability of the Legislature.”

Speaker Fox and President Paiva Weed said they are also committed to making significant upgrades to the legislative website in the next several months. Among the services will be video accessibility of floor sessions and hearings on the website, as well as improved bill-tracking functions.

John Marion, executive director of Common Cause, praised the Assembly for adding Wi-Fi accessibility.

“We’re delighted that the General Assembly is making these improvements to make the people’s house a more transparent and open place for citizens who want to follow their government,” said Marion.

Wi-Fi users can gain access to the network by going to rilin_public. The user name and password will be displayed on the screen. By using this on a personal device, members of the public will be able to have direct access to the Internet.