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AeA Agenda Revolves Around Budgets
by Liza Porteus
The electronics group AeA this week will firm up its positions on various policies that state legislatures will debate this year and that could affect the technology industry.
AeA's State Policy Action Network (SPAN) will meet in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday and Friday and will give special attention to the effects state budget deficits could have on industry.
SPAN's agenda will include: broadband deployment; tech companies' opportunities within state economic stimulus packages and tax policies; e-government and state and local procurement for information technology services; online security and privacy; environmental regulations aimed old computers and other electronic waste; and workforce development and education.
AeA is established in 13 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York, Oregon and Texas, and in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. The group's policy priorities include bolstering the SPAN program in those 13 states.
"There is an increasing sentiment within the high-tech industry that some of the greatest threats to a company's bottom line will likely come from the statehouses rather than from the Congress," AeA's policy agenda states. "State legislatures can frequently act more quickly, are subject to more populist pressures, and frequently do not understand the world of high technology and have a tendency to enact public policy [that] has many unintended negative consequences on high tech."
"I think this year's going to be tougher, much tougher," than 2001, AeA President William Archey said in a recent interview. Decreasing state budgets are, "without question, the overwhelming aspect" of what will be driving tech-related state policy this year. Top issues will include the tax incentives state offer to lure companies, he said.
Archey said privacy also will be a huge issue in at least four states -- California, Georgia, Texas and Washington.
According to its agenda, AeA will work to ensure that states do not enact "counterproductive" privacy legislation, pass protective-orders bills that "do not solve any problems but enrich the trial lawyers," and work with state governments and state and local officials to ensure the new federal education law is effectively implemented at the state level.
At the federal level, AeA will urge quick Senate approval of the House-passed trade-negotiating bill, H.R. 3005, and will work to change current tax rules requiring that as of January 2003, employers who provide stock-purchase plans and incentive stock options must deduct payroll taxes if employees exercise their options.
The group also will monitor China's compliance with World Trade Organization rules, and will lobby to merge AeA state and federal broadband activities and support passage of a tax credit for high-speed Internet services. Other issues AeA will monitor include reform of the Export Administration Act, privacy, and tax issues, such as a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit and uniformity in state sales taxes.
Clinton To Address New York Software Group
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the New York Software Summit 2002 on March 8. Sponsored by the New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA), the conference will play a key role in boosting the need to invest in New York's tech industry after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Clinton, D-N.Y., sponsored a bill, S. 1737, that would direct federal funding to communities to help them pay for additional police, bolster emergency-response systems and fund other security protections to guard against terrorist attacks. Clinton last week wrote to President Bush, urging the administration to support the measure.
"Local communities should not have to bear the burden of a strong homeland defense alone," Clinton wrote. "Homeland defense is a national concern that requires national solutions."
In other NYSIA news, the tech group next week will host a conference updating industry on new rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The rules require healthcare groups and states to streamline their systems for managing health information. A panel of experts who have begun compliance with the rules will discuss implementation roadblocks and how medical records will be affected.
Also, NYSIA has scored another lobbying success. The group's new lobbyist, Harold Ickes, worked with lawmakers to insert language in fiscal 2003 defense appropriations bill to help New York City's tech industry.
"The conferees take particular note of the devastating effects that the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, have had upon the software/information technology industry in and around New York City and other affected areas," the conference report stated. "The conferees encourage the SBA [Small Business Administration] to work with these companies, as appropriate, in the administration of programs funded in this act."
South Dakota Links To Georgia
The South Dakota Department of Education and Cultural Affairs is using technology to link classrooms with the National Science Center (NSC) in Augusta, Ga., for distance-learning programs. The Digital Dakota Network's conferencing system will bridge the geographic distance between scientists in Georgia and schoolchildren in South Dakota. More than 400 students in 18 schools already are scheduled to participate.
The NSC is a partnership between the nonprofit National Science Center and the Army, and it aims to improve technical literacy and encourage interest in math and science careers.
In other news, South Dakota Gov. William Janklow has named Bob Simpson to the South Dakota Math, Science and Technology Council. The council has 13 members and encourages more interest by students in math, science and technology at all levels of education.
NASA Awards Computing Money
NASA's Ames Research Center will award $23.3 million to Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science to develop a computing program to improve NASA's capability to create dependable software, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times.
The deal also involves corporate partners and other universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin.
Barnes Presents Georgia Budget
In Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes' budget address last week, he proposed that $65,000 be added to the amended fiscal 2002 budget to create a database to track people who enter the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program and $1 million to fund another 750 new teachers this year.
Barnes also stressed the need to invest in the state's university system to make sure highly skilled college students live and work in the state after graduation and to promote economic development. "An educated workforce is one of the best resources we can offer the high-tech and knowledge-based companies of today," Barnes said.
Barnes also recommended:
- An additional $1.5 million for the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program to meet IT workforce needs;
- $2.8 million, combined with $7 million in bonds and general funds in the budget, to foster continued broadband deployment;
- $2 billion in the fiscal 2003 budget and $700 million in the amended fiscal 2002 budget for a rapid communications network with the FBI and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an effort to enhance the ability to respond to bioterrorism;
- $3.2 million to launch systems to renew drivers' license via the Internet and telephone;
- And $7.2 million for educational testing programs.
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