VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
CHAMBER AUTOMATION PILOT PROJECT POLICY
Approved by the Joint Rules Committee on November 13, 1998
The Chamber Automation Pilot Project Committee, established by the Joint Rules Committee, has developed the project's application set standards for the network system. During the 1999 interim, the CAPPs Committee will be guided by user feedback to review suggested modifications to the system. Full implementation of the system is targeted for the 2000 session.
The following defines computer use policy statements for the implementation of the Virginia General Assembly Chamber Automation Pilot Project (CAPP). This policy governs use of state-owned personal computers assigned to legislators for accessing House of Delegates, Senate of Virginia, and/or General Assembly networks. There will be no modifications to the network system during the 1999 session pilot project phase.
USE OF CAPP PERSONAL COMPUTERS
Computer Use Policy Statements
Users of the system must respect the privacy of other users and their intellectual property or data.
Users shall not intentionally seek information, obtain copies, modify files or data, or use passwords belonging to other users without proper authorization.
Users shall not represent themselves as another user, unless authorized to do so by that user.
Users shall respect the legal protection provided by copyright and licensing laws to software and data.
Users shall protect the integrity of the Legislature's computer system and shall not intentionally propagate programs and harass other users or infiltrate a computer or computer system.
Users shall not damage or alter the software or other components of legislative computers or computer systems, or install unauthorized software or hardware peripherals.
Users shall only use functions and components of the legislative computer system for which they have been authorized.
Users shall not sell access to computer systems.
Users shall be responsible for damage to assigned computer equipment and software that results from negligence and/or improper use.
Authorized Users
Any member of the House of Delegates or Senate of Virginia who has been assigned a CAPP computer for legislative purposes.
Any person employed by the House of Delegates or Senate of Virginia and authorized by a member to use that member's assigned CAPP computer for legislative purposes.
Members that are not selected as part of CAPP shall not have access to the wireless network via privately owned personal computers.
Appropriate Use
Members participating in the pilot project and their authorized user (s) are not restricted in the use of the assigned personal computer and associated equipment and installed software as long as the use is compatible with the holding or conduct of the responsibilities associated with the needs of a citizen legislature, or the use promotes computer skills and does not interfere or inhibit legislative functions.
An authorized user who accesses the Internet has an obligation to use this access in a responsible and informed way, conforming to network etiquette, customs, and courtesies.
Each user is individually responsible for the content of any communication sent over or placed on any House of Delegates, Senate of Virginia and/or General Assembly networks, and the Internet.
In order to maintain the security of legislative hardware and software, a user of the Internet may not download application software or freeware without prior authorization from their respective Clerk.
Examples of appropriate computer use for members and staff are:
to facilitate communications between legislators, staff, state agencies, citizens of the state, and others concerned with state business, including the transfer of documents;
to access databases and files to obtain legislative-related reference material or to conduct legislative-related research, or other appropriate legislative business;
to expedite administrative duties in direct support of legislative-related functions;
to prepare information for use in bill preparation, committee hearings, and floor debate;
to preserve historical information related to the General Assembly; and
to communicate with others via electronic mail.
[Note: Email Usage - As with telephones, electronic mail is intended for fast and efficient communications. However, personal use of electronic mail should be limited in the same manner as local telephone calls so as not to interfere with productivity.]
Inappropriate Use
No legislator or legislative staff may misappropriate, misapply, convert, or misuse any property or thing of value belonging to the state or any state agency.
In addition, no person shall use legislative computers and computer systems to:
violate any state or federal law or regulation;
raise funds or engage in any campaign activity;
intentionally disrupt network or system use by others, by introducing viruses or by other means;
misrepresent oneself, a state agency, the General Assembly, a legislator, a state employee, or the state (including unauthorized use of another's password or login code); or
knowingly transmit or receive pornographic material or material that is intended to coerce, threaten, intimidate, or harass another individual.
Security and Privacy
The General Assembly employs various measures to protect the security of its computing resources and its users' accounts. Users should be aware, however, that the General Assembly cannot guarantee such security.
Users should also be aware that their uses of General Assembly computing resources are not completely private. While the General Assembly does not routinely monitor individual usage of its computing resources, the normal operation and maintenance of the legislature's computing resources require backup and caching of data and communications, the logging of activity, the monitoring of general usage patterns, and other such activities that are necessary for the rendition of service. The General Assembly may also specifically monitor the activity and accounts of individual users of legislative computing resources, including individual log in sessions and communications, without notice, when (a) the user has voluntarily made accessible to the public, as by posting to Usenet or a web page; (b) it reasonably appears necessary to do so to protect the integrity, security, or functionality of legislative or other computing resources or to protect the General Assembly from liability; (c) there is reasonable cause to believe the user has violated or is violating this policy; (d) an account appears to be engaged in unusual or unusually excessive activity, as indicated by the monitoring of general activity and usage patterns; or (e) it is otherwise permitted or required by law. Any such individual monitoring, other than that specified in (a), required by law or necessary to respond to perceived emergency situations must be authorized in advance by the Clerk of the House or the Clerk of the Senate as appropriate.
The General Assembly may disclose the results of any such general or individual monitoring, including the contents of individual communications, to appropriate General Assembly officers or committees or to law enforcement agencies and may use the results in appropriate proceedings. Communications made by means of General Assembly computing resources also may be subject to disclosure under the Commonwealth's Freedom of Information Act to the same extent as they would be if made on paper.
Electronic Mail and Internet Access
Members participating in the pilot project will have an electronic mail address. The address may be used for regular electronic mail transfers with all parties before and after your respective chamber's daily session and during recesses.
During the daily session of your respective chamber, this address shall be used only to communicate with:
Member's GAB Office,
Pilot Project Participants (House and Senate), and
Respective Chamber's Clerk's Desk.
Each authorized user should use personal discretion in publicizing their assigned email address. Please do not allow anyone other than your authorized staff to access your email, i.e. legislative assistant and/or secretary. Neither your legislative assistant nor your secretary should allow anyone to use your office equipment.
It is important to remember that electronic mail and access to the Internet provide a valuable communications tool for legislators and legislative staff. As with all other forms of communication, these tools must be managed in a manner that maintains public trust and confidence in the General Assembly. One of the greatest distinctions, and dangers, of electronic mail and other forms of access to the Internet, is that people treat it far more informally than other forms of business communications. People can copy and circulate these communication resources far more easily than traditional paper documents.
Please note that any information entered by an authorized user may constitute a public record under §§ 2.1-341 and 342 of the Code of Virginia. Legislators and staff should use careful management so electronic mail will constitute clear and appropriate communications.
Users acknowledge that use of electronic mail (e-mail) does not ensure privacy of their messages. Users also acknowledge that access to the Internet is not necessarily a private matter.
Completion of Training Courses
An authorized user (member or staff) shall complete training courses provided by their respective Clerk's Offices with respect to legislative information systems or other applications of installed software. Completion of required training courses by an authorized user is a prerequisite to being assigned a personal computer.
An authorized user who has not first completed the training course in the application for which assistance is being sought may not request or receive technical assistance or software support from the Information Systems Offices of either the House of Delegates, the Senate of Virginia or their agents.
Ownership of Assigned Property
The hardware assigned to a member and the software installed in that hardware before assignment and subsequent upgrades to that software are property of either the House of Delegates or the Senate of Virginia.
Maintenance and Support
The House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia, respectively, are responsible for providing reasonable maintenance and support of assigned personal computers, and installed/authorized hardware and software.
An authorized user may not request the House of Delegates or the Senate of Virginia, their staff, or agents to provide training, installation service, or other support services for hardware or for software not installed by the House of Delegates or Senate of Virginia or persons authorized by the respective Clerks.
A member is responsible for the cost of repairing state-owned equipment or authorized software damaged as the result of negligence or abuse, or damaged through the installation of unauthorized equipment or software, including the cost of repairing any equipment or software adversely affected by the unauthorized hardware or software.
Neither the House of Delegates nor the Senate of Virginia are responsible for installing any additional software or computer memory or storage requirements necessitated by a user's installation of unauthorized hardware or unauthorized software or an authorized user's maintenance of an unreasonable number of files.
Prohibited Uses
An authorized user may not install software on assigned hardware. Users may not replace or attach hardware to assigned hardware without advance notice to and approval by the member's respective Clerk.
Users may not sell or provide to any other person any state-owned computer and associated hardware assigned to that user; sell, copy, provide to, or download for any other person any software loaded on or provided with assigned computer equipment; or sell or provide any access to legislative information systems to which that user has been authorized or granted access.
Ramifications/Penalties
Upon notification to the respective Clerk regarding possible inappropriate use, the appropriate Clerk shall inform either the Speaker of the House of Delegates or the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, or in the case of a member's staff, the appropriate member shall be advised by the respective Clerk.
The respective Rules Committees shall be responsible for the review of alleged violations of the policy agreement and shall discharge appropriate penalties which may include termination of access privileges.
Notification if Hardware Damaged or Lost
The member shall notify the appropriate Clerk as soon as possible after any damage to or loss of the assigned personal computer or associated hardware.
Liability for Use
The member assumes responsibility for any damage or loss resulting from misuse of equipment. The member is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from complying with CAPP use policies as adopted by the Joint Rules Committee.
The Information Systems Offices of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia shall arrange for repairs under any applicable warranty for their respective members.
Return of Hardware and Software
Hardware and associated equipment must be returned upon the death of the member, or upon the resignation or retirement of the member. Upon recall of the hardware or software for replacement or trade-in of hardware, upgrade of software, or reassignment to another member, the hardware shall be returned.
In case of resignation; recall for replacement, trade-in of hardware, and upgrade of software; recall for reassignment to another legislator; or death of the member; the member or their personal representative, as appropriate, shall return the hardware and software within 10 days of the resignation, recall, trade-in, upgrade, reassignment, or death.
In case of retirement or should a member not return for a new term, the authorized user shall return the hardware and software before December 31st of the final year of the member's term of office.
In all cases listed above, the member shall return assigned equipment to the respective Clerk's Office.
ACCEPTANCE OF CHAMBER AUTOMATION POLICY
AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
I acknowledge receipt of the following hardware:
Hardware that can be removed from the General Assembly Building
1 Dell Latitude Pentium II 266 Laptop Computer, 4.5 GB HD/64 mg RAM
Serial No. __________________________
Property No. _______________________________
1 3.5 Removable Floppy Disk Drive
1 Removable CD-ROM Drive
2 Batteries
1 3Comm 10baseT Ethernet PCMCIA Card
1 3COM 56K Modem PCMCIA Card
1 Microsoft Mouse
Hardware that cannot be removed from the General Assembly Building
1 Viewsonic 17" Color Monitor
1 Dell Docking Station
1 Black Full Sized Keyboard
1 Black Microsoft Mouse
1 Laser Printer
I acknowledge receipt of the following installed/authorized software:
Microsoft Windows NT
Microsoft Office 97
Lotus SmartSuite
Lotus Notes 4.6
Adobe Acrobat v 3.0
Internet Explorer 4.0
I agree to adhere to the terms and conditions of the CAPP computer policy as approved by the Joint Rules Committee on November 13, 1998.
______________________________________ Date: ___________________________
(Member's Name Please Print )
______________________________________
(Member's Signature)
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