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The Great Lake 'Silicon' State
by Maureen Sirhal
John Engler hopes to leave a legacy when he ends his three-term reign as governor of Michigan: making the state an information technology leader.
Engler hosted the Michigan IT Summit, an event that featured Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy and FCC Chairman Michael Powell, earlier this month on Mackinac Island, and Engler took the opportunity to outline his IT vision for the state. "My vision is for Michigan to be the technology state," he said in an opening speech.
Engler has embarked on a bold agenda to help invigorate various technology sectors, including biotechnology, advanced energy and high-speed Internet. Those initiatives include the creation of a Life Sciences Corridor, the NextEnergy plan to bolster innovation in the alternative energy market and the HiSpeed Internet plan to hasten broadband deployment around Michigan.
Engler also outlined his three-point approach to fulfilling his IT vision: building and attracting technology businesses to the state, developing a robust system of online services for state residents, and crafting and implementing a statewide strategy for managing IT needs.
Through tax incentives such as the single-business tax credit, more than 3,200 jobs have been generated in Michigan, and businesses garnered nearly $184 million in private investment. "Our message to the IT industry is simple and to the point: If you don't want to pay taxes, make Michigan your home," Engler said.
Workforce development is another priority, as the state rolls out Michigan Technical Education Centers (MTECs) that have trained more than 16,000 students in high-skilled, high-demand occupations. Engler said his administration is rolling out a new MTEC in Ann Arbor to help incubate IT business and develop products related to the high-bandwidth Internet2 project.
Michigan also is unveiling e-government services, such as online license renewal and access to a comprehensive list of information about schools, regions and cities via Michigan.gov. "Users are recognizing Michigan.gov as the place to go first for information," Engler said. "Customers use the site because it is much more convenient to go online than stand in line."
He also cited Michigan's ongoing efforts to create the nation's first cyber court. "In a world where ideas can become [initial public offerings of stock] at light speed, we need a court that can resolve disputes at light speed," Engler said.
In other Michigan news, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has granted $200,000 to the nonprofit LinkMichigan to help wire nearly 500 underserved northeastern Michigan residents with telecommunications services by year's end. The effort will impact eight counties that have pledged to offer a 25 percent match to the grant, generating an additional $50,000 for the building out of telecom infrastructure.
LinkMichigan also will provide grants to regions with existing phone services to wire affordable high-speed Internet connections. Nearly 100 Michigan State University telecom students and professors will provide free consulting services to those regions.
A Busy Tech Week In California
California Gov. Gray Davis last week ordered further investigation into the security of state employee information stored at the Teale Data Center.
California state senators are investigating why it took weeks for 260,000 government employees to be notified that a hacker had accessed a computer system containing their personal financial information in April. The Sacramento High-Technology Crimes Task Force also is investigating the incident. The Teale Data Center provides the computer service for the program involved.
Davis has directed the California Highway Patrol to conduct a security review and make recommendations on how to protect the computer systems.
In related news, Davis last week signed into law a bill that extends the life of the Teale Data Center and other critical data operations and support services at state agencies. Under previous law, the centers were due to become inoperative July 1. The bill, A.B. 1559, indefinitely extends the life of the centers and outlines appropriations for them, among other things.
Also in California, construction has begun on new facilities to house the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology on the University of California at San Diego campus. The building will be the first exclusively dedicated to an Institute for Science and Innovation. The mission is to seek to extend the Internet throughout the physical world.
"Within its four walls, the reach and capacity of the Internet will be explored and expanded," Davis said. "Within its classrooms and laboratories, the Internet revolution will be fought on a whole new front."
The center is one of four approved to stimulate the next generation of technologies and train future high-tech leaders.
Davis last week also released a report by the Small Business Reform Task Force that identifies 60 state programs geared toward helping small businesses. The report found that challenges those businesses face include gaining access to capital, finding and retaining skilled workers, and maximizing technologies. The task force will have a Web site by July 1 to help small businesses communicate with the state and will hold hearings in September.
Davis also opened the Venture Point-Tech Coast Small Business Development Center, reportedly the country's only such center.
Insurance Group Opposes Privacy Bill
The privacy debate also continued to generate news in California, with the American Insurance Association (AIA) cautioning that a measure approved last week by the state Assembly would do little to protect consumers from real threats to their privacy.
AIA argues that the measure, H.B. 2297, would hamper commercial businesses in the state. The bill aims to create stronger consumer privacy protection online by mandating that any commercial business formulate and abide by a privacy policy. Businesses oppose provisions that would force firms to notify anyone impacted by a privacy policy when those policies were violated.
"The bill does not differentiate between serious privacy breeches and minor infractions," AIA spokeswoman Nicole Mahrt said. Employees, for example, could mistakenly e-mail a list of consumer information and thus open a business to huge liability, she added.
While the measure aims to curb opportunities for identity theft, AIA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups argue that the bill's approach is too broad. They said it would generate frivolous and costly class-action lawsuits against firms that conduct business online.
States Gain Digital Ground
Several states are making progress this year in delivering government services using new technologies and the Internet, according to the first installment of the Progress and Freedom Foundation's "Digital State Survey for 2002."
The report covers social services, law enforcement and court services, and it indicates that five states -- Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Virginia and Washington -- placed first for pushing their services online. Colorado, Kansas and Wisconsin took top place for their efforts in the areas of law enforcement and the courts.
The survey's snapshot will be combined with future updates to produce the annual rankings of the states' digital services in the 2002 Digital State Award at year's end. The survey results are based on interviews with state chief information officers.
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