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New Orleans Elects Cable Exec As Mayor
by Liza Porteus
The battle may have been tough, but the Big Easy elected a high-tech executive as its new mayor. Ray Nagin defeated Police Superintendent Richard Pennington last Saturday to take over as the next mayor of New Orleans on May 6. Nagin is vice president and general manager of Cox -- the dominant cable company in the New Orleans market.
Nagin's campaign platform stressed the need to pull the region up from the bottom of the high-tech curve. "We missed the great Internet and computer boom of the '90s," it states, but Nagin notes that initiatives such as the UNO Research and Technology Park and Tulane's Center for Gene Therapy are ripe for advancement. "We cannot allow this opportunity to pass us by."
Nagin's administration will encourage the creation of more high-tech research initiatives in the sector and at the university level, and he will work to attract new businesses. He aims to expand the New Orleans police force and improve its efficiency through technological advances. Nagin also promised to place as many services as possible on the Internet and said he will work with the industry to improve access to technology in schools.
"Computer literacy has increasingly become a vital job skill," the platform states. "We must make sure our children do not fall by the wayside."
Washington Readies To Extend Net-Tax Moratorium
Washington state is on its way to extend its Internet access tax moratorium.
In 1997, the legislature prohibited cities and towns from imposing any new access taxes on Internet service providers, but it allowed them to levy a business tax up to a certain rate. The law prohibiting new taxes was set to expire in July 1999, but was extended to July 1, 2002. H.B. 2639 would extend the access-tax prohibition until July 1, 2004. It is now in the Senate Rules Committee. The Senate version, S.B. 6497, is identical. The Senate passed that bill Feb. 15, and it is now in the House Rules Committee.
"What it comes down to now is who gets credit for the bill," said a Senate Economic Development and Telecommunications Committee staff member.
The legislature has until the last day of the current session, March 14, to vote on the bills.
Bush To Sign Regional Telecom Measure
Congress last week approved a five-year reauthorization bill for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) -- a regional economic development program -- that contains several provisions designed to boost telecommunications and entrepreneurs. President Bush is expected to sign the measure.
The measure authorizes a new telecommunications program to: improve affordable access to advanced telecom services; provide education and training in telecommunications and technology; develop programs to increase businesses' readiness to engage in e-commerce; and support entrepreneurial opportunities for information technology companies. The measure also authorizes an entrepreneurship initiative to: encourage business education; improve access to debt and equity; develop business incubators; and help communities craft small-business strategies. A program also would be created to encourage partnerships among businesses, educational institutions, state and local government and labor groups to improve worker skills.
Wisconsin E-gov Agency Saves Millions
Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum announced that the state's new Department of Electronic Government (DEG) has saved taxpayers up to $18.8 million. DEG was created in the 2001-2003 budget bill McCallum signed last August.
Headed by the state's first chief information officer, Rebecca Heidepriem, DEG oversees the state's $400 million in annual technology investments, including networks that connect 700 state government locations and 500 schools and libraries and a $76 million distance-education network that serves 300 schools.
Because of DEG negotiations with AT&T, the state will save $8.6 million in long-distance bills during the next three years. DEG also has automated mail presorting and improved document tracking. The agency is saving the state up to $6 million this year through its negotiations for lower software license costs, according to McCallum's office. Through DEG, a federal grant writer was hired to help other agencies tap into federal technology funding.
New Hampshire PUC Decides Landmark Telecom Cases
The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last week decided three cases relating to Verizon Communications and the future of telecom competition in the Granite State.
In one case, the PUC helped expand the availability of fiber to promote broadband deployment and lowered certain wholesale rates to make digital-subscriber line service more affordable. In a second case, the PUC imposed an assurance plan for customer protection and service reliability on Verizon. That plan combines payments to competitors with the PUC's authority to levy fines as an incentive for quality service to Verizon competitors. In the third case, the commission indicated it would tell the FCC that they would approve of Verizon's request to participate in the interstate market if certain conditions were met, including lowering broadband rates.
The New Hampshire commission opposed the so-called Tauzin-Dingell broadband bill, H.R. 1542, the U.S. House approved last week, 272-158.
"The Tauzin-Dingell bill could prevent the states from regulating Verizon's broadband business and would undermine our ability to encourage broadband deployment," Kate Bailey, the PUC's telecommunications division director, said in a statement. "We are disappointed by the vote in the House of Representatives but we will continue our efforts as the bill moves to the U.S. Senate."
California Revisits Megan's Law
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer last week announced changes to the Megan's Law system that will provide law enforcement agencies with daily updates on information about registered sexual offenders. At least a dozen states have passed laws modeled after New Jersey's "Megan's Law," which requires the creation of registries that provide notice to individuals living near convicted sex offenders. California law enforcement agencies now can obtain more recent updates by accessing a state Justice Department database via a secure intranet connection. The new technology also will offer Megan's Law information in 13 languages.
Librarians Lobby For New York Funds
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has asked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to restore $39 million in library funding this year in an effort to close the so-called digital divide. In a Tuesday letter to Bloomberg, AAP President Pat Schroeder said the proposed cuts will be "particularly devastating" to those children who rely heavily or entirely on public libraries for access to books and electronic information.
"The effect of such drastic cuts ... will not merely widen the 'digital divide' among New Yorkers," Schroeder said, "it will create a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon."
DC Council To Launch Israel Virtual Trade Mission
The D.C. Tech Council in April will launch a virtual trade mission with a focus on security companies between the Washington region and Israel. Over 50 companies from the Washington area and 30 companies from Israel will be online for four weeks to talk about businesses opportunities. The mission is supported by the Washington-based Embassy of Israel, the Israel Export Institute, the SIBAT Foreign Defense Assistance, Defense Export Department of the Israel Ministry of Defense, Greater Washington Board of Trade, TradeBuilders and the U.S. Israel Business Exchange.
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