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NGA Forum Strategizes For The New Economy
At a National Governors' Association (NGA) forum last Thursday, governors and private and public sector representatives met to discuss "Changing Role, Changing Relationships" for businesses, non-profits and governments in the New Economy.
The Conference Board, Council of Foundations, National Academy of Public Administration, National Alliance of Business, NGA and private sector presented a report that proposed first steps to meet the challenges rapid technological changes are bringing with them.
Education was cited as a vital tool for succeeding in the new economy.
"I think the single most important role the government can play is in education," said Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. "We need to make sure we can provide the workforce needed for the new economy...it's critical to our ability to compete in this new world."
Shaheen cited the varying state laws concerning sales, income and Internet taxes as potential obstacles to raising enough money to fund school pro-technology programs. Schools need the funding to produce the up-to-date leaders of the future, forum leaders said.
"The ultimate leadership is information — that's what brought down the Berlin Wall and Soviet Russia," said Rich Roberts, CEO of the Virginia-based Link2Gov, a provider of electronic tools for governments. "It's not going to be leadership that embraces this new technology, it's going to be awareness."
For all the talk on how to handle the rapid changes, however, Bob Jones of the National Alliance of Business expressed concern.
"It's nice to sit here and talk about the new economy like it's some nirvana," he said, "but we need to look at the downsides ahead."
One goal of the NGA is to have the business and private sectors work together to help state economies keep up with technology, because they can't rely on the federal government to change quickly with the times.
"Engrained in government, change is bad, usually," Roberts said. "Change typically has come slowly sometimes, in a job that threatens your security. I think the leadership is going to come from the awareness of the information becoming available."
Survey Says Consumers Think Net Should Be Taxed
Internet tax frenzy has not touched the lives of many consumers outside of the Beltway, but when given a little knowledge about the debate sweeping through the political arena, two-thirds of Americans do favor sales taxes on Internet purchases.
A study issued last week by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) also showed that roughly half of the 1,038 adults surveyed believed the Net's growth would not be affected by taxing Web purchase.
"Americans recognize that letting some e-tailers avoid charging sales tax is an unfair business practice and unfair tax policy and places the tax burden on those who lack access to the Internet," said Bill Dalbec, senior research executive for Wirthlin Worldwide, who conducted the study, in a statement.
However, the survey also showed that 63 percent had not seen, read, or heard anything recently about sales tax applied to online purchases.
Daley Awards $100,000 for IT Impact Research
Commerce Secretary turned presidential campaign manager William Daley awarded a $100,000 contract to the Blacksburg Electronic Village in Blacksburg, VA, last week, to evaluate the impact of information technology on public and non-profit organizations served by community networks.
As part of the Clinton administration initiatives to help improve public services to populations without Internet access, the study will survey 50 institutions on how to better enhance community networking.
The contract was awarded by the Commerce's Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under its Technologies Opportunities Program (TOP). It's the fourth in a series awarded by TOP for research and evaluation on the diffusion of telecommunications and IT applications in the public and non-profit sectors.
White House Releases R&D Study of 50 States
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week announced the results of a study analyzing R&D funding for the 50 states, while criticizing Republicans for slashing funding for many of President Clinton's technology initiatives proposed in the FY2001 budget.
Prepared by RAND's Science and Technology Policy Institute, "Discovery and Innovation: Federal Research and Development Activities in the Fifty States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico" outlined how much R&D funding each state received based on a per-capita basis. The results showed states such as California, Maryland and Virginia in the lead.
"Money is always a contentious issue and everybody needs more — research is not cheap," said senior research analyst and head of the RAND team, Donna Fossum. "People don't want to overlap. They can use this essentially as a marriage brokerage and find out who is working in these areas and collaborate efforts."
A White House response to the study chastised Republicans for making budget cuts for agencies such as NASA, the Energy Department, the National Science Foundation and DARPA.
"These cuts could undermine America's position as the leader in the high-tech industries of the 21st century — and could slow down the rates of innovation, growth and productivity," the report read.
Ohio Gov. Signs E-commerce Laws
While a federal electronics signature bill sailed through Congress last week, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, R, signed Ohio's House Bill 488, which encourages the efficiency of e-commerce. The Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (UETA) will allow the use of electronic signatures to take place the pen-and-paper official transactions. "By elevating e-signatures and contracts to the same level as paper ones we can further enhance the use of the Internet," Taft said. "The potential of the Internet is unlimited and Ohio needs to do all it can to stay on the leading edge of this technology to create jobs and prosperity for all Ohioans."
UETA gives legal legitimacy to information, records and signatures in electronic form in both the private and public government sectors. The measure goes into effect Sept. 14. Taft also approved legislation that allows Ohioans to register their cars and file workers compensation claims over the Internet, and allows premiums to be paid online.
PSCP Committee Cites Concern Over Encryption
At a Public Safety and Crime Prevention (PSCP) Steering Committee meeting in Oklahoma City, OK, last week, a presentation on the need for encryption was received with criticism from the law enforcement communities.
FBI Unit Chief Barry Smith and Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Richard Wintory stressed the need for encryption to protect sensitive information stored on computers and the privacy of communications. But Nation's Cities Weekly reports that law enforcement communities are worried about threats posed by encryption products, since no one knows how to unscramble the information in plain text.
Two investigative techniques used by law enforcement that are adversely affected by non-recoverable encryption products include electronic surveillance (wiretaps) and search and seizure of evidence on computers. The steering committee will work on policy language encouraging only the use of recoverable encryption products at their fall meeting in Hayward, CA.
- by Liza Porteus
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