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The Legislative Devolution Continues
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) this week forecasted issues that will dominate state legislatures' agendas in the next two years. Tech policies on the list include taxation of e-commerce, privacy, identity theft, financial privacy and election reform. State lawmakers also may address the issue of drivers being distracted by wireless cell phones and fax machines.
"More and more these days, we're finding that the state legislatures are where the action is," state Sen. Jim Costa, D-CA, said at a press briefing Tuesday. "The 'devolution' of authority from the federal to state governments is an appropriate exercise of the jurisdiction of power," he added.
As NCSL members meet in Washington, DC, this week for the Assembly on Federal Issues and Assembly on State Issues joint meeting, state representatives will decide which policy issues in the next Congress are worthy of a formal NCSL stance. Each resolution needs three-fourths approval from the states.
Utah Names Sex Offenders On The Web
Utah's Department of Corrections last week began placing information on the state's 4,700 convicted sex offenders on its Web site. Surfers can check offenders' legal status, citizenship, race, marital status, number of arrests and other information. Within the next few months, officials expect to add information on each offender's method of operations.
Current state law requires that all sex offenders be listed in the database for 10 years after they complete their sentences. In August, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legislature's 1998 amendments that expanded the law to include on the registry sex offenders who completed their sentences and probation before July 1998. But groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, offenders' family members and prisoner rights' groups are criticizing the move, saying it will make it more difficult for offenders to move on with their lives.
In other Utah news, The Deseret News reports that Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey is seeking $3.5 million in state funds for a high-tech education and research center he hopes will create jobs and economic opportunities for Weber County residents. The center would incorporate state universities to offer master's degrees in tech fields. "If we had this, I could legitimately go to Microsoft and say, 'Come to Ogden and set up your shop right next to this," Godfrey told the newspaper. "Absent something like this, it's really hard for us to pull a Microsoft."
Coloradoan Criminals Cannot Escape The Net
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation will introduce an online service that allows state residents to run background checks on anyone older than 18 beginning next summer, reported AP. Open-records laws already have made arrest records public, but they had not been available online. Now, for about a $5 fee, Coloradoans can download the criminal history of anyone arrested in any case where fingerprints were taken.
Between January and November of this year, the CBI reports that more than 18,000 people requested background checks. Colorado's move mirrors many made in states like Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, South Carolina and Iowa.
Let Us In
The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled last week that a business telephone service provided by Qwest is not subject to regulation under the state's telecommunications act. The decision allows the company to discontinue offering service to new customers while continuing to honor terms of existing contracts.
In other access news, SBC Communications on Monday said it would provide the Federal Communications Commission with new evidence that it had satisfied requirements necessary to enter the long-distance telephone market in Oklahoma and Kansas. The FCC and Justice Department had expressed concerns that SBC was not giving local competition cost-based and non-discriminatory access to its local lines and computerized systems. SBC said state cost differences in access fees explains price variations throughout the states and added that the Kansas and Oklahoma regulatory commissions were filing supportive comments to address the federal agency's concerns.
NACo Tech Summit To Take on Privacy
The National Association of Counties (NACo) will hold its third Technology Summit Feb. 1-3 in King County, WA, to tackle the issue of privacy as it relates to e-governance, electronic voting and the future of technology. The challenges and possibilities presented by DNA research and genetic engineering also will be discussed. About 250 county officials from across the country and industry leaders from Microsoft are expected to attend.
Toshiba Agrees To Pay For California's Computer Woes
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Tuesday announced that Toshiba and three of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay more than $30 million to California public agencies to settle a lawsuit alleging violation of the state's False Claim Act. The payment will cover damages and penalties for the knowing sale of defective products to the government.
Lockyer's office said state agencies bought Toshiba computers that contained an alleged defect in the micro-code that controls the transfer of data to and from the floppy disk. The defect caused varying amounts of data to be lost or altered under certain operating conditions, without the user's knowledge. Although Toshiba denied liability, the company said it would correct the micro-code in computers made since November 1999 and has begun to offer a free software patch for notebook computers already sold. The settlement is subject to approval by the San Francisco Superior Court.
Calling All Proposals
California Gov. Gray Davis, D, joined University of California President Richard Atkinson last week in announcing the three winning proposals for the new California Institutes for Science and Innovations.
In his year 2000 State of the State address, Davis proposed the creation of such an institute to help California maintain its premier standing in science and technology, and to provide the technological underpinnings for the state's future economic growth. The governor's fiscal 2000-01 budget included $75 million to establish the programs. The institutes are expected to produce scientific advances in fields critical to the future of the state's economy.
New York Tech — Jobs Site A Hit
New York Gov. George Pataki, R, announced Monday that hightechNY.com — the site designed to assist, attract and retain college students and others searching for high-tech jobs in the state — received more than 45,000 hits in the first two weeks after its launch.
The site lists 40,000 high-tech jobs in the state, and more than 400 firms currently are posting openings. Since its November launch, the site has been used for about 125,000 job searches, with about 4,000 of them by students. The site is an interagency effort between the Department of Labor and the Empire State Development Corporation.
Seattle High-Tech Meets Labor
Many workers in Seattle, WA, often considered the poster city for the new economy, are using tools such as labor strikes to try to reap benefits from the booming new economy, USA Today reported this week. With union-mobilizing attempts going on at companies like Amazon.com, Boeing and at state newspapers, the AFL-CIO has targeted Seattle for stepped-up union organizing among the area's high-tech, white-collar and other workers. The recent labor activity "is a transition between the old industrial age and the new information economy," David Olson, a political science professor at the University of Washington, told USA Today.
- by Liza Porteus
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