Doing Business In The Digital Desert
     While some lobbying tactics may be standard for inside-the-Beltway types, the new industry advocacy groups that are emerging in even newer high-tech hubs have not necessarily established themselves or their strategies. Denison said that although the association is almost eight years old, it had not considered getting involved in government affairs because of the "high risk for possibly no reward." Understaffed and "undernourished," lobbying was not one of the issues upon which the group could focus, he said. But Denison said that what started as "monitoring" a few bills and their progress has evolved into drafting legislation and banding together with other area trade associations to mobilize even more support for the high-tech industry's interests.
     It all began when the association examined model legislation that would call for information technology worker training initiatives and modified the language to Arizona's needs. Then, Denison contacted Rep. Barry Wong, R, whose legislative staff provided enough research support for the bill, H.B. 2442, to be drafted and introduced. The bill gives companies a state tax credit of up to $1,500 per employee annually to compensate for the constant retraining of technology workers. The bill's maximum cost to the state is $5 million each year.
     Meanwhile, a venture capital conference at the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce led to a study about the level of venture capital in Arizona. When industry saw the results, showing that the state has less than 10 venture capital firms investing in Arizona companies, a coalition of economic development groups formed to create a second bill. The legislation, H.B. 2447, provides for the use of contingent tax credits to allow the state to borrow $100 million to be used by a "superfund agency" to invest in venture capital firms that place offices in Arizona. The proceeds from those efforts would then be used to offset the initial investment and interest.
     The two bills have joined a handful of others, including one that calls for a moratorium on Internet access and sales taxes in the state, which Denison's association has been actively pushing. The group has enlisted the help of lobbyist friends and even other associations in town to determine the best strategies. And Denison sends out a flurry of e-mails to members and businesses pleading for support and asking people to write their legislators.
     "I think there's nothing better than e-mails and letters to the local representatives," he said.

A Peach Of An Idea
     The Georgia Electronic Commerce Association has been mobilizing its own forces by e-mail, but chairman Richard Keck notes, most of the group's work has been focused on developing a report to submit to the state government's e-commerce study committee. The document will serve as a tool for lawmakers to understand the complexities of the new knowledge-based economy as opposed to the industrial economy, Keck said. The document will address issues including the digital divide, taxation, privacy, intellectual property, information security and cybercrime. Keck said the group has established a comfortable dialogue between those making the laws and those whom they effect.
     "What we've accomplished over two years is to get to a point where there's a comfort level on everybody's part so people have a dialogue before, during and after they (work with legislation)," Keck said.
     The group began its work a few years ago with an electronic records and signatures act that eventually provided the definitions used in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Now, the group is working on developing legislation to address junk e-mail, also known as spam, and intellectual property protections.
     "There's a large body of valuable intellectual things that don't have protection and one of the ideas we're advancing is that in the old economy, where intellectual things were barely on the radar screen and most commerce was physical, you had a fairly lumpy, crude intellectual property system," Keck said. "Either you got protection or you didn't. There wasn't a lot of fine tuning. You're going to see, as we move into the new economy that has intellectual things as its main inputs and outputs that we can afford to have more nuanced intellectual property."

Open Sesame
     No other lobbying campaign has fully inundated state governments like the open access movement. The OpenNet Coalition, a group of Internet service providers pushing for regulations to get cable companies to open their networks to competitors, has been active nationwide. It has been pushing state legislatures to consider mandating the linesharing.
     The open access proponents have been busy notifying industry and news organizations of the bills introduced and testifying at hearings in support of their cause. So far this session, lawmakers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Vermont and Virginia have introduced open access bills, sending a flurry of lobbyists to state capitals to woo legislators. Delegate Ken Plum, D-VA, has been watching the high-priced campaigns in Richmond with interest and accurately predicted earlier in the week that the House of Delegates would opt to hold over until next year legislation that would have opened the high-speed lines. The House voted for the delay Tuesday. Plum suggested that one reason the legislature wants to put off the discussion is the lack of citizen activism on the topic. While lobbyists have descended on the state capital, lawmakers have yet to hear from voters on the issue.
     "It probably reduces any pressure that legislators have on the necessity to act because it's less clear to the consumers the potential impact," Plum said. "If I had a lot of people clamoring at my door, I'd pay attention to that. It's disadvantageous to not have as much popular support and instead making it a fight between two titans."
     But Peter Arnold's job is to make sure that legislators realize the impact their actions have on consumers. As a spokesman for Hands Off The Internet, which advocates a laissez-faire approach to the Web, Arnold says he tries to impart on legislators the economic advantages to his position rather than relying on newly commissioned studies to make his point. The group uses existing reports to make the case that Internet access does not need to be regulated.
     "There's lots of talk on regulation, but my point is trying to focus on economic realities and what will drive the deals, which is what everyone wants," Arnold said.
- by Stephanie Lash