West Virginia Legislature Switching to Word Processing

After having spent tens of thousands of dollars, the West Virginia Legislature is ready to make the switch to the Microsoft Word program.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Legislature has used Word Perfect software for word processing for the past 15 years.

Legislative Auditor and Legislative Manager Aaron Allred says the transition to Microsoft Word hasn’t been so easy. Staff member have had to convert about 38,000 files from one program to the other.

The $55,000 project started after last year’s session ended. Allred estimates that the IT department has spent between 4,000 to 8,000 hours on the project.

Allred says using Word will help make the drafting bills process more standardized and flexible. He says the system will be in place Wednesday.