 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
California Bills Against 'Outsourcing' Vetoed
by Chloe Albanesius
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed a package of four bills aimed at stemming the "outsourcing" of U.S. jobs to other countries.
The Republican governor rejected a bill, S.B. 888, that would have required homeland-security-related work to be performed only in the United States. The bill "may be unconstitutional under the commerce clause," Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. The measure would have placed additional restrictions on contractors while providing no guarantee that work done within U.S. borders is any safer than work done overseas, he said.
The governor had similar sentiments for legislation, A.B. 1829, that would prohibit state agencies from using state money for foreign contract work. "While the bill purports to be about saving jobs, it would actually be detrimental to our economy," he wrote, adding that the bill is contrary to California's effort to be an active participant in the worldwide economy.
Prohibiting businesses from taking Americans' health information outside the United States also is "unnecessary" and protected under current law, Schwarzenegger wrote in explaining his veto of a third bill, S.B. 1492.
He was more amenable to the fourth measure, S.B. 1451, which would have required that individuals employed by California companies that handle sensitive information abide by state privacy laws, regardless of whether they are located overseas. Though he vetoed the measure, Schwarzenegger said it is "well intentioned," and he offered to work with the bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Liz Figueroa, on a bill that he said would not conflict with the California Financial Information Privacy Act.
The governor also vetoed legislation, S.B. 1841, that would have required employers to notify employees if they plan to watch their e-mail and Internet activities. The bill "places an unfair and unrealistic burden" on employers, he wrote. It is "too broad" and does not define proper notice.
Schwarzenegger also rejected a measure, A.B. 1874, that sought to streamline the telecom permit process. In his veto message, he acknowledged that high-speed Internet deployment is "critical" but called for a more "comprehensive solution" than the bill aimed to provide.
And Schwarzenegger signed a bill, S.B. 1276, that extends the state's rural telecommunications program until 2009 while specifically stipulating that money collected for providing telecom service in underserved areas be used strictly for that purpose. The bill unintentionally cancels a program that provides reading material to blind residents by telephone. He called on the legislature to quickly introduce legislation to correct that problem.
In other news, the Michigan legislature on Wednesday approved a package of bills aimed at reducing identity theft, AP reports. The two main bills would criminalize stealing someone's identity and would prohibit the public display of Social Security numbers.
Anaheim Installs Response System
The city of Anaheim, Calif., is implementing an Internet-based, emergency-management system that will allow leaders and emergency "first responders" to get updated information about incidents in the city.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Anaheim officials found that they lacked easy access to information and had no way of sharing information or collaborating about information they did receive, said Robert Jakober, business development director for homeland security at Electronic Data Systems.
EDS is providing the backbone for the Anaheim system and has run the city's information technology contract for several years. During a routine briefing in early 2003, the city's mayor, Curt Pringle, asked EDS what it could provide in terms of homeland security, Jakober said Tuesday during a system demonstration at the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technology Symposium (COVITS) in Norfolk, Va.
EDS installed the first phase in July, and Anaheim officials expect the second phase to be implemented in the next six months, said John Nicoletti, Anaheim's public information manager.
When fully installed, city officials will be able to get immediate information about dispatched units, traffic scenarios, personnel rosters or emergency situations from office computers or hand-held devices in the field. The system also can tap into live news feeds and radio transmissions, and send emergency alerts to emergency responders' mobile devices.
The next step will be to deploy the system in the field, Nicoletti said. Officials on Friday will test an eight-square-mile stretch of its wireless system in the hopes of expanding wireless capabilities to the whole city, he said. If that is successful, Anaheim will move toward putting units in emergency vehicles.
Anaheim is using some $1.2 million of federal grants to fund the program. It is currently the only city employing the EDS system. Company officials, however, are in talks with Virginia, while 28 additional California cities have expressed interest in joining the network, Jakober said.
Virginia County Makes International Investment
Virginia's Fairfax County is making a concerted effort to attract high-tech overseas investment.
Since 1997, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority has opened satellite offices in Bangalore, India; Frankfurt, Germany; London; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Tokyo in an effort to persuade international businesses to put operations in Virginia, authority President and CEO Gerald Gordon said.
Since the region's population is expected to add up to 15,000 new residents per year over the next 15 years, Gordon said in an interview at the COVITS conference, "you need businesses to come in and offset the cost of public services."
Gordon was attracted to Israel because "they are the world's experts on homeland security and their companies are very, very good at what they're doing," he said. He was "anxious to export those business services because of the demands on the part of the federal government."
While the rest of the country is up in arms over the trend of sending U.S. jobs overseas, Gordon views the Fairfax authority's office in Bangalore as a means to "reverse that trend" by bringing Indian companies to the United States.
Gordon is looking to Silicon Valley for his next venture. With all the advances in homeland security, he said, companies are "going to need a presence on the East Coast."
Feinstein Concerned About California Privacy Law
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Tuesday asked the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency to overturn or change federal regulations that could prevent the implementation of a tough California privacy law.
The law requires companies to get permission before they share personal information with outside companies and allows customers to opt out of having companies share personal information with their affiliates.
A federal regulation allowing federally chartered banks to make loans or deposits "without regard to state law limitations" could invalidate the California statute and "greatly muddy the waters" on its effectiveness, Feinstein wrote in a letter to Comptroller John Hawke.
Commerce, Illinois Universities Are Research Partners
The Commerce Department on Wednesday signed agreements with two Illinois universities that will expand and formalize existing partnerships to advance technological innovation.
The University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will work on research in fields such as fire, bioscience and energy.
In a second agreement, the Commerce's Technology Administration and the University of Illinois at Springfield will team up for research on nanotechnology.
The institutions were chosen because of their "research faculties and facilities that are relevant to technological advancement," Commerce Technology Undersecretary Phil Bond said.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
