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MINUTES OF THE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION
Thursday, October 22, 1998 - 1:30 p.m. - Room 403 State Capitol
Members Present:
Sen. David H. Steele, Chair
Rep. Blake D. Chard, Chair
Sen. Scott N. Howell
Sen. Robert Montgomery
Rep. Brent H. Goodfellow
Rep. Martin Stephens
Mr. Cliff L. Ames
Mr. Gerald R. Capps
Mr. Ronald L. Fox
Ms. Nancy CW Gibbs
Mr. Robert W. Hood
Mr. Garth Howard
Ms. Eileen B. Longsworth
Commissioner Stephen F. Mecham
Mr. Leon Miller
Mr. David C. Moon
Mr. David A. Packer
Dr. Mike Petersen
Members Absent:
Members Excused:
Mr. Peter R. Genereaux
Mr. Jerry P. Peterson
Judge Michael Wilkins
Staff Present:
Mr. Richard North,
Research Analyst
Ms. Tani Pack Downing,
Associate General Counsel
Ms. Junie Anderson,
Legislative Secretary
Note: A list of others present and a copy of materials distributed in the meeting are on file in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.
1. Call to Order - Chair Chard called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m.
MOTION: Mr. Ames moved to approve the minutes of the September 10, 1998 meeting. The motion passed unanimously, with Sen. Howell, Rep. Goodfellow, and Rep. Stephens absent
for the vote.
2. Y2K Update Process For Legislators - Chair Chard opened the discussion regarding information and updates on the Y2K issue that is being sent to all legislators. Committee
members made suggestions for the process.
An Internet article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel titled "National Guard ready to act on eve of 2000" was distributed.
Mr. Moon, Chief Information Officer, distributed a report titled "Year 2000 Progress
Report _ State of Utah Executive Branch Report." He summarized the report for the
Commission.
3. Information Technology Budgets: Discussion Regarding Format For This Year's Presentation To The Commission - Mr. Jonathan Ball, Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst, distributed a handout titled "FY 1998 _ 2000 Information Technology Funding _ Utah Courts,"
which demonstrated how a new IT budget template would look when completed. He explained
the information in the document and answered questions from Commission members.
Ms. Lynn Koga, Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, provided comments on the
budget for public education.
Chair Chard recommended that Mr. Ball continue to develop the budget template but
suggested the template include interagency cooperation, with input from Mr. Moon and Mr.
Miller.
Ms. Longsworth suggested a budget subcommittee of the Information Technology
Commission be established.
4. Internet Taxation - State's Role - Governor Mike Leavitt said the National Governors Association has identified this issue as the most important federalism issue being faced this
century. He said the Internet should not be taxed so as not to inhibit it as a powerful engine of
growth. However, the governor indicated that remote sales over the Internet should be taxed in
the same way that any other sale is taxed. He said taxing would be at different rates and provided
a standard set of definitions which include:
a. standardized sales tax definitions created by the individual states;
b. a single rate per state;
c. defining nexus _ who has the responsibility to collect the tax and who has the capacity to receive the tax; and
d. the creation of software that would revolutionize the way sales tax is collected and administered.
He also said Congress has passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act which puts a moratorium
of three years on the taxation of the Internet. However, it did not solve the problem of who
collects transactional taxes. It also sets up a commission that will study this issue and report its
findings back to Congress within the near future. The governor said it is important for our state
to work on this issue before the deadline for the commission's report to Congress.
Governor Leavitt emphasized the importance of maintaining the fundamental principle of
our government, which is local control.
5. Governmental Immunity - Year 2000 Draft Legislation - Ms. Downing briefed the Commission on draft legislation titled "Year 2000 Government Immunity," that was mailed to
Commission members prior to the meeting. She indicated that, in its current form, the draft
would not extend government immunity for negligent acts by state and local governments for
damages/injuries arising from Y2K problems. She also reminded the Commission that the Utah
Constitution has an open courts provision under which this bill could be challenged.
Mr. Alan Edwards, Division of Risk Management, provided input on the draft legislation
and said his office is comfortable with the bill as written. He answered questions of concern
from Commission members.
MOTION: Sen. Montgomery moved to approve draft legislation titled legislation "Year 2000 Government Immunity." The motion passed, with Sen. Howell, Ms. Gibbs, Mr. Hood, Mr.
Howard, Ms. Longsworth, Mr. Moon, and Mr. Packer voting in opposition to the motion. Mr.
Fox was absent for the vote.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Sen. Howell moved that the Information Technology Commission recognize that the Y2K problem is unique and should be addressed specifically by
the Legislature as it deals with governmental immunity, and that the bill be considered by the
appropriate legislative interim committee for a policy review with a presentation by the IT chairs
on the issues.
Sen. Howell withdrew his substitute motion after discussion. The discussion went back to
Sen. Montgomery's original motion.
MOTION: Ms. Longsworth moved to end debate on the motion. The motion passed, with Sen. Howell, Mr. Moon, and Mr. Packer voting in opposition to the motion.
MOTION: Sen. Steele moved to include a statement, in written format, listing Sen. Howell's and others' concerns to be used by the IT chairs when presenting the bill. The motion
passed unanimously, with Mr. Fox absent for the vote.
6. 1999 Interim Study Issue Discussion - Chair Chard opened discussion on issues and priorities for the 1999 interim study. He suggested that members give their recommendations to
staff for consideration. Topics discussed in the meeting were as follows:
a. information regarding who can access state information and how they access it, hire a consultant to give us the information
b. A web site for ITC with more than agendas
c. spend time dealing with innovation, be a resource for those who want to be resourceful and change government to enable them to be innovative, i.e., how are
we proceeding on telecommuting
d. single biggest barrier to state moving forward aggressively with electronically delivered services is how do we deal with the credit card issues
e. encourage counties/cities to put more of their forms, services online, i.e., GIS should put their information online
f. what is the road map the ITC believes for information technology in the state, could have a subcommittee to work on it and come back to the committee
g. telecom-League of Cities & Towns model ordinance; cities and towns incorporating as competitive entities; response on issues moved from Information Technology
Commission to the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee by
leadership
h. incentives for application and use of technology, i.e., part of costs returned to the person who uses technology to file his tax return (non-traditional legislation)
i. Information Technology Systems at SLOC - have new CIO come in & see how we can interface as a state w/ them on technology issues
7. Other Business - Chair Chard announced that the next meeting of the Information Technology Commission will be held on Monday, November 16, at 1:00 p.m.
8. Adjournment -
MOTION: Mr. Hood moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously, with Mr. Fox and Mr. Packer absent for the vote. The meeting adjourned at 4:49 p.m.
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