Perhaps the most predictable thing about fishing is the line of people waiting to get licenses just before heading outdoors for the weekend.
That's why sporting goods stores like Anglers' Inn sell licenses. "It gets people through the doors," said manager and buyer Terry Peterson. Selling licenses is a time-tested lure, but there are times when the lines are long enough that employees do not have much time to spend with each customer.So Peterson isn't about to disagree with a state plan to let people buy hunting and fish- ing license on the Internet. "If people are limited on time, buying the license on the Web would be perfect and it would free up some time for us for the people who come in to ask questions," he said.
New legislation is requiring state agencies to prepare Web access to a number of routine government transactions, including driver and vehicle license renewals and applications for welfare and health benefits.
The new law began in the legislative session that just ended as SB188, the "Digital State" bill, sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan. It is part of Gov. Mike Leavitt's technology proliferation initiative. The new law sets a July 1, 2002, deadline for most services to be available on the Web and requires the public education community to make "reasonable progress" toward a number of new Internet-based services by that date.
The Web mandate came as no surprise to most affected state agencies. "A number of initiatives are already in place," said David Moon, the governor's chief information officer. The absence of funding to accomplish the project really didn't surprise anybody either, though it does raise some concerns about meeting the deadline.
If departments can figure out how to pay to retool their processes to provide Web services, cost savings down the road appear promising.
In Alaska, for example, residents are already able to renew vehicle registrations on the Web. Alaska's cost in processing a Web renewal is $1.60, compared with $10 otherwise, Moon said.
In Utah, the Commerce Department estimates document filings that now cost $60 will cost $10 to $15 if handled on the Web.
Commerce Department spokesman Kim Morris said ongoing Y2K fixes in the department's computer systems mesh with revisions needed to put transactions on the Web; but the cost of the changeover is still an issue. "The bill puts the bar fairly high for the department," he said.
The complexity of some licensing processes also complicates departments' migration to Web-based services.
Consumer advocates speaking against the Digital State bill during the legislative session said Web services don't help people who do not have access to the Internet. Another concern is that automated services that don't involve interaction with a living, breathing person would increase the notion that the phrase "government service" is an oxymoron.
"Our goal is improving customer service, not replacing it with robots," Moon said.
The Internet likely will not be the only option to standing in line when people need to do business with state government. In Arizona, for example, state officials found telephone renewals for vehicle registrations to be more popular than Internet renewals, Moon said.
Utah's Motor Vehicle Division has offered mail-in vehicle renewals, as an option to standing in line, for some time. About 70 percent of the renewals were handled by mail until emissions inspections were tied to the process in some Wasatch Front counties in 1983.
Now, the mail option is used for about half of vehicle registration renewals along most of the Wasatch Front and in Washington County. Participation might be higher if the entire process could be handled in the mail, but people still have to get in the car and drive somewhere to get the inspection, said Tax Commission spokeswoman Janice Perry Gully.
Public education got a much more flexible mandate in the new law. By the July 1, 2002, deadline, the Utah Education Network and state public education system are directed to make "reasonable progress" toward Internet access to education services like student grades, progress reports, school schedules and teaching resources.
"This bill, by no stretch, is unachievable," said Steve Hess, director of the Utah Education Network. The Internet has already become the "nervous system for education" in Utah. Hess believes the deadline for education was not absolute because of funding shortages. "I think it will require some additional money from the Legislature," he said.
An anomaly in education is that students have better computers in their bedrooms than they have in schools; and their desire to embrace technology outstrips that of their teachers. "The biggest problem right now is just getting computers updated to handle the functions and applications being asked for."
The new law emphasizes the need to give rural Utah greater access to government services. Rural school districts have already learned the Internet gives them access to resources, like library collections, they wouldn't have in any form otherwise.
"In many instances, the more rural districts are ahead in this process," Hess said. "Big, urban districts have more infrastructure to put in place, more cable to pull, more computers to buy and keep up with."
The new law also directs Moon to establish a rural telecommunications task force since the proliferation of upgraded telecommunications hardware is a key to Internet availability. "We have a great opportunity to allow rural areas greater access" to the Internet, Moon said.