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AeA-Arizona Leaders Eye 2002 Session
by Liza Porteus
AeA-Arizona, a state branch of the electronics trade group AeA, has a new executive director and lobbyist who are eyeing the 2002 legislative session as one to target issues such as privacy, broadband, the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA), tech-related tax credits and renewable energy.
The group welcomed Frank Garza as executive director Aug. 1. A former Honeywell employee, Garza also served as a private industry consultant and has been involved in various economic development initiatives, including serving as chairman of the small-business committee for the high-tech cluster of the governor's strategic partnership for economic development.
"I like to call it turning advocacy into a vocation," Garza said. "I'm looking forward to really getting involved and making a difference in the high-tech community."
Garza said AeA-Arizona is formulating its 2002 legislative agenda and will meet with association members within the next few weeks. He cited increased funding for technology initiatives, various aspects of telecommunications, education and workforce development as important issues. Garza also said he will try to bring together the economic development community to identify three or four major initiatives to pursue when the legislature convenes in January.
Stan Barnes also joined AeA-Arizona this year as its main lobbyist. The group monitored about 50 bills in 2001 that could have impacted members and said every bill that could have hurt the industry financially was killed before reaching Gov. Jane Dee Hull's desk.
Hull, however, did sign several tech-related bills into law this legislative session. They included:
- H.B. 2042, which allows counties and municipalities to electronically offer and process municipal bonds.
- H.B. 2043, which requires that state Internet sites include a privacy statement and notice of how information gathered by the site will be collected and used.
- H.B. 2148, which makes Internet contracts void if made with a person accused of a crime.
- H.B. 2257, which authorizes county recorders to regulate the electronic distribution and posting of voting registers. The law also strikes language requiring written approval of voters for such posting.
- H.B. 2289, which makes it illegal to send over the Internet items that are harmful to minors.
- H.B. 2313, which allows the state's Revenue Department to accept e-signatures for tax returns.
- H.B. 2447, which clarifies that competitive telecom services in Arizona are subject to the state's Uniform State Antitrust Act.
- H.B. 2542, which conforms state laws to accommodate the federal Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act. That law changes the way wireless use and sales taxes are imposed by creating a uniform method of sourcing telecom services to the appropriate taxing jurisdictions.
- H.B.2582, which allows public agencies to conduct procurement activities via online bidding.
- H.B. 2625, which increases the telecom-service excise tax in an effort to fund updates of the equipment used for emergency telecom services. The law sets new tax rates for both wire and wireless services.
- S.B. 1020 and S.B. 1288, which bring the state into compliance with the privacy provisions of a 1999 federal law on financial modernization. The first law gives the state Insurance Department the authority to share information with state and federal regulatory agencies and law enforcement officials. S.B. 1288, meanwhile, calls for the department to give notice of policy renewal at least once a year electronically.
- S.B. 1272, which permits the state Transportation Department to give other governmental entities access to telecommunications facilities or rights-of-way.
NCSL Taps New President
On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) installed New York state Sen. Stephen Saland as president. Election reform and Internet commerce will be chief among the issues the group addresses under his leadership.
In other NCSL news, Jim Christy, a supervisory special agent at the Defense Department, told the group at its meeting in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday that as more people gain access to the Internet, state government computer systems are vulnerable to attacks ranging from minor vandalism to serious destruction. Most worrisome, he added, are "the ankle biters who will do it because they can."
To mitigate the threat, Arizona has created the State Infrastructure Protection Center, said Arizona Rep. Wes Marsh. That system shares information with federal and local entities about impending threats to the state's strategic systems, such as water, telecommunications, energy, transportation, and government and emergency services.
"Information technology is our greatest tool," Marsh said, but that technology also can be an enemy if hackers attack, so states must have a system in place to address any threats.
Earley Stumps In Virginia
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Earley last week proposed the creation of a workforce czar to consolidate the state's existing workforce training programs. He pitched the idea while touring the Shenandoah Valley and southwestern Virginia.
Joined by U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., and others, Earley also proposed creating a prescription database to prevent drug abuse. In Congress, Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf and Virginia Sen. John Warner, both Republicans, have endorsed the idea of the drug database, which would include information on certain types of narcotics prescriptions.
Chamber Touts Trade In Texas, Michigan
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce cosponsored an El Paso Regional Trade Forum on Thursday that highlighted the importance of free trade to Texas' economic growth. Speakers included: Hector Barreto, administrator of the Small Business Administration; M.B. Oglesby, chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick; and Leslie Schweitzer, the chamber's senior trade adviser, among others.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, President Bush stressed that trade-negotiating authority is necessary for free trade with Mexico in his address to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Albuquerque, N.M.
Earlier this week, the chamber, Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., and Detroit business leaders proclaimed the importance of free trade to Michigan. They joined members of the chamber's TradeRoots team to stress how crucial access to international markets is for the state's small and medium-sized businesses.
In other trade news, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce will be taking a few select companies interested in exporting, forming strategic alliances or otherwise expanding their operations globally on a trade and investment mission to Mexico City next week. The agenda includes a meeting with President Vincente Fox.
Meanwhile, Lone Star Technology Missions is organizing a technology mission to Tokyo for October and to the Benelux region of Europe in April.
A New Telecom Partnership
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association and AT&T Wireless have announced a donation of 10 desktop computers with 24 months of AT&T high-speed Internet access to the Z.J. Loussac Public Library of Anchorage, Alaska. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch joined in a demonstration of the service at the library Monday.
The New Economy 'Playbook'
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) has published an array of reports on characteristics of the new economy and the implications for policymakers at the state and local levels, according to New Democrats Online.
The "state and local playbook" highlights successful state initiatives that can serve as models for the new economy. Topics include e-government and e-commerce innovation, digital opportunity, unsolicited commercial e-mail, online healthcare enrollment, research and development tax credits and economic development.
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