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Kansas Creates E-government Panel
The Kansas House has a new committee that will target e-government initiatives. The e-Government Committee, established two weeks ago by House Speaker Kent Glasscock, R, will examine what computer and Internet-related services currently are available to state residents and will generate legislation on how technology can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of everyday activities.
Although Kansas currently has other committees, such as the New Economy Committee and the Futures Committee, that address economic development and aging issues with a high-tech bent, the e-commerce committee's goal will be to prepare Kansas for the digital future and focus solely on technology.
"Instead of dealing with what you find in typical state houses in the [legislative] sessions ... he's [Glasscock] taking a much different approach," Glasscock Communications Director Harry Watts said. "He personally believes his role in the next two years is to look five, 10, 15 years out and get the state ready for those kinds of demands. ... Everything he's doing has a hitch to technology."
Last week, Glasscock addressed the committee — which has met once so far in its initial two-year term — and stressed that Kansas undoubtedly will face challenges overcoming concerns about security, privacy and access, especially among the state's older population. "The e-Government Committee is being created to help assess the likely impacts of this transformation of Kansas government into the e-government realm," Glasscock said.
Glasscock posed two questions to the committee: What is the likely impact of incorporating greater use of e-government; and what steps should the government take to encourage that transformation. Glasscock stressed the need to gauge the availability and retention of an adequately trained workforce, the public's access to and acceptance of technology, and the security of electronic transactions and data storage, as well as system integrity and reliability. "Hopefully some legislation comes out of this," Watts said.
In other Kansas news, the House Utilities Committee last week endorsed a plan to bring broadband technology to schools, libraries and hospitals. H.B. 2035, the Kan-Ed Act, would provide for the establishment and maintenance of broadband-based networks for certain schools, libraries and hospitals. The bill also details how the state would work with telecommunications, cable and other industries by contracting with private industry to provide access.
Proponents of the measure say more high-speed access to the Internet could spur economic development. In his State of the State address Jan. 8, Gov. Bill Graves, R, proposed $500,000 to assist schools in technology infrastructure planning to help them meet the goal of statewide interconnectivity by 2002.
States Mull Wine Shipping Issue
Five states have drafted new bills addressing the issue of whether their residents should be allowed to have wines shipped directly to their homes from out-of-state vendors — an issue that has gained importance as the Internet has become a means for smaller vendors to reach broader customer bases across state borders. House lawmakers in Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi and Massachusetts are mulling bills that would permit direct interstate wine shipments, while a bill pending in the Montana Senate would make home deliveries a felony for shippers.
Wholesalers fear that wine purchased directly over the Internet, by phone or through the mail may threaten their businesses in the existing three-tier system — from wholesaler to retailer to customer — for wine sales. The battle came to a head during the 106th Congress when then-President Clinton signed the 21st Amendment Enforcement Act, which gives state attorneys general federal-court jurisdiction to seek injunctive relief for violations of state law regulating direct shipping of wine.
On Tuesday, attorneys made their oral arguments before a San Francisco judge in the first test case to be filed by both wineries and consumers challenging state bans on private citizens receiving wine shipments to their homes from out-of-state vendors. The Coalition for Free Trade (CFT) and other plaintiffs believe that bans on interstate wine shipping violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Wholesalers argue that the 21st amendment, which allows states to control intrastate commerce of alcohol — gives states, not the vendors, the last word in what shipping methods are allowed.
"We think this case is going to blow some of the cobwebs off of the 21st Amendment and reveal its limitations as a source of protectionist legislation," said CFT General Counsel Bill Kinzler.
Lawyers representing a group of Virginia wine lovers and three out-of-state wineries also gave their final arguments last Friday in a lawsuit that aims to overturn Virginia's ban on home deliveries of out-of-state wines. U.S. District Judge Dennis Donhal is expected to rule on the issue by late spring. Virginia law currently makes it a misdemeanor for out-of-state sellers to ship alcoholic beverages directly to residents' homes and for residents to receive such shipments. Virginia wineries, wine clubs and retailers, however, can ship directly to state residents.
Energy Woes Abound
California residents' worries about the energy crisis top their list of concerns, and most believe the problem plaguing the Golden State will cause significant economic damage over the next few years, according to a new survey released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California.
About 84 percent of Californians say they are closely following news reports on the energy crisis. About 92 percent of residents view the electricity market as a problem, with 74 percent calling it a "big problem," and 82 percent believe the issue will have negative economic effects.
Although Gov. Gray Davis, D, continues to receive high approval ratings, the survey showed that most state residents disapprove of the way he is handling the energy crisis.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer obtained a preliminary injunction to allow Southern California Edison to keep its long-term electricity contracts from being canceled and resold by the California Power Exchange, pending a court hearing Feb. 2. Lockyer asked for the protection to help preserve the supply of power at current rates for more than 670,000 California homes now served by the company. The utility had been facing imminent cancellation of long-term power contracts for failure to make a $21.5 million payment.
Granholm Names Top 10 Scams
Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm last week announced the top consumer scams of 2000 and warned state consumers to steer clear of more of the same in 2001. The list represents the scams that triggered the most consumer complaints. It was compiled from more than 70,000 phone calls to Granholm's consumer protection division within the last year.
Internet-related complaints — including those about online auctions, "cookies" and online privacy, Web-based pyramid schemes and junk e-mail — topped the list. This is the first year that sweepstakes or telemarketing did not top the list.
"That says something about the explosive growth of the Internet in our lives," Granholm said in a statement. "Unfortunately, too many crooks and scam artists still see the Internet as an 'enforcement-free' zone. That's a perception problem, however, and not a reality. Cyber con artists are no more welcome in this state than their real-world colleagues."
NCSL Writes To Bush
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) sent a letter to President Bush on Jan. 11 outlining the group's federal priorities for the new administration. Among other things, the NCSL's priorities include maintaining the sales tax as a viable state revenue source by simplifying current sales-tax systems. NCSL also wants to preserve state authority over the conduct of elections, and it backs the creation of mechanisms to fight legislative and regulatory attempts to pre-empt state government authority.
- by Liza Porteus
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