Utah is no longer the only state with a spyware bill. California's governor signed their spyware bill this week. Ben Edelman posted an excellent summary of the bill and suggests that it falls short in addressing the more controversial issues.


  posted by David @ 11:53 AM

 
Utah CIO, Val Oveson, was recently announced as a new officer in the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). Val has been Utah's CIO since January 2003. At the NASCIO convention in New Orleans, David Osborne, the author of Reinventing Government, suggested that the best way for states to address fiscal woes is not to increase taxes, but to improve upon their use of technology to drive down cost. We did this in the Utah Dept. of Administrative Services over the past 12 years with some good results. Right now, we need a new phase of innovation and coordinated efforts to reach a little higher if we are going to remain among those states recognized as the best for fiscal and technology management.

Osborne also suggests that IT policy-making should be separate from IT operations. This is the way that it has been in Utah and most IT directors in the state agree with the model, although there is a move to consolidate the two organizationally. Perhaps I'll pick up a copy of his book: "The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis." It looks like it has some good ideas for the presentation I need to make to the Utah Technology Commission this month.


  posted by David @ 11:33 AM