AUGUSTA – Recent polls indicate more than half of all Mainers have access to the Internet at home, one of the highest access rates in the nation. But when it comes to state government, online access stops well short of what other states provide their residents.

“Many states now have streaming audio of their legislatures,” said Gene Rose, public affairs director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “The study we did earlier this year showed that several also have video, and many others are considering adding one or both.”

Eighteen states are offering audio and video access of legislative sessions and at least some hearings. An additional 16 states are offering public access to audio broadcasts of legislative sessions and some hearings.

Also, 20 states offer television broadcasts similar to C-SPAN of legislative activities. C-SPAN, the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network, provides two satellite-distributed cable-TV channels with live coverage of Congress and many hearings. It also provides Internet access to floor action and congressional hearings.

Maine has no similar public access, even though the internal computer network of the Legislature has been “streaming” audio from both the House and Senate and all of its hearing rooms since the first of the year. Only a few individuals, such as heads of state agencies, have been able to use their computers to listen to legislative proceedings.

“It’s a security issue,” said Paul Mayotte, director of Legislative Information Services. “We can only allow access on a specific [Internet] address-by-address basis.”

Mayotte had proposed that the Legislature establish a two-year pilot project that would have allowed public access to legislative sessions and committee hearings. He estimated it would cost $50,000 a year to buy the separate hardware and provide Internet access to allow the public to listen in on deliberations.

“I think this is something we need to revisit,” said House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland. “It didn’t make the cut when we first put the legislative budget together, but I think we need to look at this again.”

Saxl said that while $50,000 a year is “not a small sum” it is not a lot of money when viewed in the context of the entire legislative budget of $22 million a year. He said adding video as well as audio is not likely because of the increased cost of cameras and extra bandwidth needed to provide video access on the Internet.

“But we are not talking all that much to do audio,” he said. “We have already made the biggest part of that investment with the new audio systems in the chambers and the hearing rooms. Maybe we can find a way to do it for less.”

Senate President Pro Tem Richard Bennett, R-Norway, takes over as president of the Senate in December. He said not just the legislative branch, but all of state government, needs to make better use of the Internet to allow greater public access.

“There are a lot of good reasons to open up our doors as wide as they can go,” he said. “Maybe we need this sort of public access to get some fundamental structural reforms that we need.”

But while Bennett supports Internet access by the public, he doubts the money is available. He said cost overruns in the State House renovation project and overall economic uncertainty will make it difficult to find the money to pay for public access. But, he said, he certainly would like to find the money.

“Look at what C-SPAN has done in Congress,” he said. “Some issues that might have been swept under the rug years ago have had to be dealt with by Congress because of the exposure they received on C-SPAN.”

University of Maine political science professor Matthew Moen said C-SPAN has had a positive impact on Congress, despite early misgivings of many. He said many in Congress were concerned when the service started but now it has broad, bipartisan support.

“Citizens being able to see their democracy in action can only be a good thing,” he said. “I think this sort of access is the wave of the future.”

Gov. Angus King said he likes the idea of greater access to state government through the Internet. He said his administration has been trying to make better use of the Web with renewal of many licenses now online.

“I think anything that improves public access to their government is a great idea, but I am not going to tell the Legislature what they should do,” King said. “They are a separate branch of government.”

But King said he would ask his commissioners to explore ways the executive branch can use the Internet to increase public access to hearings and other executive branch activities. For example, he said, commissions such as the one reviewing access to health care would benefit from being on the Web.

One state agency, the Public Utilities Commission, has been on the Internet since the summer of 1997. Spokesman Phil Lindley said the public has had access to commission deliberations and hearings as they occurred or by listening to archived recordings of meetings.

“We have been doing it on a shoestring, but we have been doing it,” he said.

The PUC contracts with a private company to stream the audio at a cost of $220 a month and used existing hardware to go online. Lindley said there was a one-time cost of $500 to buy necessary software to convert the audio from the hearing room sound system into a digital signal.

Saxl and Bennett said that when lawmakers return in January they expect there will be further discussions on how to improve public access to the Legislature.