State Senate 3.0, Continued

ALBANY—After several days of texts and tweets, staffers from the State Senate Democrats unveiled a new web portal at a press conference in New York City.

"We made a commitment when we took over the majority that we were going to put the Senate into the 21^st Century," Majority Leader Malcolm Smith said at the event, which was linked--with some hiccups--to a gathering in Albany, which I attended. "We believe that we are going to have the best communication though all our social networks of any state legislature in the country."

The sites were developed in-house, spokesman Travis Proulx said, under the direction of Andrew Hoppin and Brian Keeler. One of the new features, for example, allows people to comment on pending legislation.

No immediate word on how much this cost, which is an issue some Republicans have raised. Proulx said it is less than a previous  contract with L&P Media, an outside firm that also did campaign work for Republicans.