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Colorado Senators Clash Over Outsourcing
by Chloe Albanesius
Colorado state senators on Tuesday heatedly debated a measure that would ban the state from hiring contractors who use foreign workers.
"We need to be smarter and wiser in letting our contracts and remember that when we employ our citizens in this country, our economy grows and we are all going to benefit," said Sen. Deanna Hanna, the Democratic sponsor of the bill, S.B. 23.
"The state does not profit from subsidizing inefficiency," countered Senate Minority Leader Mark Hillman, a Republican. He acknowledged that it is difficult for Americans to see their jobs going elsewhere but warned senators not to repeat the mistakes made during the Great Depression. "We [thought] we could get out of a trade deficit with a trade war."
Hillman repeatedly asked Hanna if her bill meant the state would have to choose a $2 million contract from a U.S. contractor over a $1 million offer from a Canadian company. "The likelihood of that happening is rather remote," Hanna replied, but Hillman persisted, attempting to get a "yes" or "no" answer.
Sen. Abel Tapia, a Democrat, finally interjected, saying that offers varying that much would be scrapped and the contract re-bid because that would indicate that "something is wrong and [the companies] have not understood the concept."
"When we have spent so much time trying to figure out how to give tax subsidies ... to bring good jobs to Colorado, why would we send our jobs out of Colorado and away from the people who are qualified to do these jobs?" Hanna asked.
Republican Sen. Steve Johnson said Hanna's bill would "hurt Colorado workers ultimately. I think it's clear that protectionism hurts workers overall." He suggested doing a study or forming an interim committee to examine the issue before passing the legislation.
The chamber eventually passed the bill by a vote of 18-16, but its passage was delayed when GOP members asked for a review of the financial impact of the bill.
In other news, Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday issued an executive order prohibiting the use of no-bid state contracts. "During tough economic times, we must ensure the state is getting the most out of every dollar it spends when it comes to taxpayer dollars," the Democratic governor said in a statement.
Last week, meanwhile, Granholm appointed two people to the state's development authority for the high-speed Internet. Larry Leatherwood, a Democrat, is a self-employed executive consultant specializing in ethics and conflict management, and Republican Cynthia Zerkowski is director of the Macomb County Management Information Services. Leatherwood and Zerkowski succeed outgoing members Suzanne Cole and Cyril Moscow for a term ending Dec. 31. 2007.
Va. Lawmakers Approve Tech-Related Measures
Virginia lawmakers ended their 2005 session this week, and a number of technology-related bills are headed to Gov. Mark Warner for approval.
One security bill, H.B. 1966, would require the governor to establish a terrorism intelligence center within the State Police Department. The center would be responsible for collecting, analyzing, sharing and maintaining information that could help law enforcement prevent or plan for a terrorist attack.
Another bill, S.B. 963, would require the governor to ensure that state and local agencies are meeting their annual goals for the implementing communications devices that can "talk" to each other in order to meet the July 1, 2015, deadline for statewide interoperability.
Lawmakers passed six bills, all of which are very similar, to amend state law on computer crimes. Two of the bills, H.B. 2215 and S.B. 1001, would lower the damage threshold for prosecution from $2,500 to $1,000. Another measure, H.B. 2471, would do the same thing but also includes a provision that would make it a felony to illegally obtain computer-related property or services valued at more than $200.
The other measures are: S.B. 1002, S.B. 1147 and S.B. 1163.
A new health measure, S.B. 1278 would require the state Health and Human Resources secretary to post information online about clinical drug trials from the National Institutes of Health and the private sector. A second piece of legislation, H.B. 2236, would require hospitals to share patient data via an interoperable system that maintains privacy.
On the telecommunications front, lawmakers cleared a bill, H.B. 2880, that would require the state auditor to review how much money the state could yield a change to the tax structure. When it was initially introduced, the bill called for a 5 percent excise tax on all telecom services, but bill sponsor Samuel Nixon changed the measure because he did not think the House would pass it.
A companion Senate bill, S.B. 1335, which was not revamped, died in committee.
Gov. Warner, a Democrat, has yet to sign any of the measures.
Researcher Slams Calif. Telecom Regulation
Telecom policies that stifle competition and investment will undermine California's job growth and economic growth, according to a report from the Pacific Research Institute.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act for the nation has "devolved into one of the worst examples of corporate welfare and regulatory abuse in recent times," and California regulators have done little to help the situation, report author Sonia Arrison wrote. Arrison urged the legislature to require the Public Utilities Commission to "develop new rules to integrate free-market principles and eliminate obsolete policies," which will promote competition, investment and consumer welfare in the local telecom industry.
Also in California, a group of independent auditors and experts were not recommending that California use only "open source" software in a study released last year, the state's chief information officer said last week.
A section of the California Performance Review urged the state to "more extensively consider use of open-source software," whose underlying code can be viewed and altered. That, however, does not mean the state should establish a preference for open-source software, CIO J. Clark Kelso said in a statement.
"Our standards require consideration of reasonable alternatives ... so that we can ensure the state receives a solution that is well-aligned with our business needs," Kelso wrote. "There is no preference for open-source solutions or for any other software architectures."
Texas E-Voting Meetings Opened To Public
Members of the public on Monday were, for the first time, allowed to attend the meeting of a Texas committee that chooses the state's e-voting machines.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last year sued after a leaked video of the committee's closed proceedings showed committee members admitting to rather lax oversight in choosing the state's e-voting machines. The ACLU and EFF won a preliminary injunction in their lawsuit, which claimed the state's open-meetings law requires the committee to admit members of the public.
"Elections need to be more transparent across the board," EFF staff attorney Matt Zimmerman said. "We hope that this meeting will open the door to more public access to the voting-systems selection process in Texas and will support reform efforts being made in the Texas legislature," said Dan Wallach, a computer-science professor at Rice University.
Texas authorities opposed to the effort claimed that the e-voting committee is an informal group not subject to the state's open-meetings law.
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