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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Deep In The Heart Of Texas Net Bills
by Liza Porteus
The Texas legislature just cleared a bill to authorize a new commission, the Texas Information and Referral Network, to work with the state Department of Information Resources (DIR) to improve TexasOnline, the state's e-government service. The site has links to more than 200 forms and applications from 124 agencies.
Another bill, S.B. 1458, would establish an e-government program management office in DIR to guide, promote and facilitate the implementation of select e-government projects, and to manage the ongoing development of the TexasOnline portal.
Texas lawmakers also cleared a bill, S.B. 1146, that would require the creation of an information link on TexasOnline for state agencies with jurisdiction over the environment and natural resources. DIR's management office would be tasked with developing the link.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry has not yet signed into law either of the TexasOnline-related measures, but he has signed the following tech bills:
- S.B. 201, which allows counties to collect traffic fines via the Internet.
- S.B. 353, which allots $10.2 million for strategies to increase the number of engineering and computer-science graduates in the state.
- S.B. 694, which requires state agencies to consider the numbers they collect from credit cards, debit cards and other access devices as private information.
- S.B. 834, which calls for health and human services information to be made available through the TexasOnline portal.
- H.B. 1144, which allots $30 million for intensive math instruction and master math teachers.
- H.B. 1475, which seeks to improve tech training in the state by creating the Master Technology Teacher Program.
- H.B. 6, which includes $2 million for a virtual charter-school pilot program.
The legislature also sent an array of other tech-related measures to Perry. He has until June 17 to sign them. The bills are:
- S.B. 393, which calls for the passage of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, voluntary model legislation that states can enact to accept digital signatures.
- H.B. 249, which would require information resources managers at state agencies to regularly assess and report on the vulnerabilities of their computer networks.
- H.B. 1419, which would require the secretary of state to study voting systems, technologies and strategies. It is one of several bills on that topic awaiting the governor's signature.
- H.B. 1922, which would guarantee all citizens the right to know how state agencies use the personal information they collect.
- S.B. 497, which would require state agencies receiving more than $175 million in funds to post to their Web sites information on their activities, expenditures, officers and contracts, and also to provide links to laws governing them.
- S.B. 380, which calls for the listing of agency Internet addresses in telephone directories.
CalVoter President On Net-Voting Tour
California Voter Foundation President Kim Alexander spoke Wednesday during a luncheon address on voter education on the Internet to a gathering of Florida election officials in Tampa, where the Florida Association of Supervisors of Elections held its semi-annual conference.
Alexander also will join panelists June 22-24 in Hartford, Conn., to speak at a "Rhetoric and Democracy in the Age of the Internet" conference organized by Trinity College and the Intercollegiate E-Democracy Project. Other participants will include: Carl Bernstein, an award-winning investigative reporter and recent vice president of Voter.com; Justin Dangel, the founder and former CEO of Voter.com; Benjamin Todd, the director of Trinity's Smart Neighborhood Project and Neighborhood Technology Center; and Michael Cornfield, a George Washington University professor and the research director of the Democracy Online Project.
Tech Showcase To Promote Army's Wares
The Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland will host a technology showcase June 12-13 at Top of the Bay. The event is designed to give companies, colleges and universities in the mid-Atlantic region the opportunity to learn how to access resources at the Army site and begin partnerships with the Army to boost R&D programs.
The effort involves the Army's engineers, technicians, research scientists, high-tech facilities, colleges, universities and government agencies in the region. At the event, Rep. Robert Ehrlich, R-Md., will introduce Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a key backer of the multi-state, mid-Atlantic R&D campaign at the federal level.
Michiganders 'Got Access'
In its recently released third statewide technology survey, Cyberstate.org found that the share of Michigan residents who have ever accessed the Internet increased about 54 percent from 1999 to 2000 and another 63 percent in 2001. The number of people who have made at least one online purchase increased by 23 percent from 1999 to 2000 and another 35 percent in 2001.
The survey also found that: most Michigan households -- 59 percent -- have at least one computer; 44 percent of people who said they would rather vote in the two weeks leading up to Election Day than vote in a booth on Election Day said they would prefer to vote over the Internet; and privacy remains a major e-commerce concern.
Teaching Tech in South Dakota
Beginning June 4 and continuing through July, nearly 1,600 South Dakota teachers will converge on university campuses and in local classrooms to learn how to incorporate technology into their teaching. This year's participants in GOP Gov. William Janklow's Technology for Teaching and Learning (TTL) academies join a growing network of South Dakota educators who have been trained to use technology to help their students.
Advanced sessions will focus on higher-level technology skills, including video production, digital photography and classroom use of personal digital assistants. So far, nearly 2,500 teachers have participated in TTL. The academies are staffed by elementary and secondary school teachers, with leadership provided by the Education and Cultural Affairs Department, the governor's office, and Technology and Innovations in Education. Other programs include a Distance Teaching and Learning Academy and sessions for network and school administrators.
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