Jan

24

Senate Uses Technology to Connect with Neighbor Island Constituents

Education / Press Releases / Technology

Honolulu – Beginning this legislative session, neighbor island constituents will have the chance to testify at a Senate hearing without physically being there.   By using the Hawaii State Senate’s new Neighbor Island Video Conferencing Program, constituents on the neighbor islands will be able to participate in the legislative process and have their voices heard without traveling to Oahu.

This pilot project is intended to afford neighbor island individuals the opportunity to actively participate in formulating new legislation, while avoiding travel and related expenses associated  with testifying at a Senate committee hearing,” said Senate President Donna Mercado Kim.  “At the same time, the Senate will benefit from State, County, and community input and discussion that previously may have been missing.”

The Hawaii State Senate will launch its Neighbor Island Videoconferencing Pilot Program with the Senate Committee on Education on Friday, January 25, in Room 414 of the State Capitol at 2 p.m.

The Senate Committee on Education will demonstrate and introduce this new concept during its informational briefing to discuss the progress of the state’s Race to the Top grant and ESEA flexibility application with a live testimonial from Keaau Elementary School Principal Chad Farias on the Big Island via videoconference.

Our committee contemplates issues that impact communities statewide and video conferencing allows us to ensure that critical stakeholders like parents, students, educators and community leaders can share their thoughts with us on important policy matters we are considering,” said Senator Jill Tokuda, chair of the Senate Committee on Education.  “We encourage everyone to actively engage with us in this pilot project, and exercise your right and responsibility to be involved in the legislative process.”

In its inaugural year, the Neighbor Island Video Conferencing Program is being piloted by the Senate Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Technology and the Arts.  Along with neighbor island residents, State or County departments based on a neighbor island may participate in this project.  Hearing notices for the pilot project hearings will indicate that videoconferencing testimony will be allowed and contain a link to instructions for the public on how to participate.  Because this is a pilot project, there are some limitations to how many individuals are able to participate.  Following the completion of the Legislative Session, the project will be evaluated.

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Aug

21

The Hawaii State Legislature’s Website No Ka `Oi

Press Releases / Technology

Senate Data Systems staff members Brent Lau and Jon Shimabuku receive the Online Democracy Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures representative. (PHOTO COURTESY: National Conference of State Legislatures)

HONOLULU -  With its redesign and upgrade,  the Hawaii State Legislature’s website has won top honors as the nation’s best legislative website.   It earned the Online Democracy Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which was presented on August 8 during the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2012 Legislative Summit in Chicago.

“Through public input and the teamwork of our diligent staff, the Hawaii State Legislature’s website has become a more user-friendly, accessible portal for citizens of all ages wishing to participate in or learn more about the legislative process,” said Senate President Shan Tsutsui. “The website helps citizens throughout Hawaii to connect to information and policy issues that directly impact their lives and communities.  We are greatly honored to be recognized for our efforts.”

Hawaii State Legislature’s website was redesigned and upgraded less than a year ago.  The website can be found at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/.

The Hawaii State Legislature stood out to the panel of judges for the extensive amount of information available on the website. Features such as the guide for first-time users, explanations about how to use various features, a citizens’ guide and a legislative glossary allows citizens of all ages to participate in the legislative process.

The judges also noted:

  • Additional features that invite citizen involvement, such as a “Submit Online Testimony” link on the home page and on bill summary pages, and a flexible “Find Your Legislator” feature.
  • Easy and accessible links to calendars, caucus sites, and committee hearings.
  • A simple, clean and consistent layout, with the most frequently-used items in the center of the home page and a consistent search function on left and navigation tools on the right.

“As a state comprised of islands, access to legislative information online is critical, and encourages greater participation by the public in the legislative process,” said Hawaii’s Speaker of the House Calvin Say.  “We are so proud of our team in being recognized through the Online Democracy award.  Their excellent work in redesigning the website promotes greater openness and transparency.   With rapid changes in technology, we understand that people are constantly seeking information in new ways, and this website has now become an invaluable tool for lawmakers, staff, the media and citizens of all ages.”

NCSL’s Online Democracy Award is given each year to a legislature, legislative chamber or caucus whose website stands out for making democracy user-friendly.  Previous winners of the NCSL Online Democracy award include the Florida Senate, Washington Legislature and Tennessee General Assembly.

The Online Democracy Award is sponsored by two of NCSL’s staff organizations: the National Association of Legislative Information Technology (NALIT) and the Legislative Information and Communications Staff (LINCS).

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Jun

28

Governor Signs Measures to Encourage Economic Development and Innovation

Economic Development / Press Releases / Technology

(Senators Carol Fukunaga and David Ige join the Governor Abercrombie for the signing of House Bill 2319 into law.)

Honolulu- On June 27, 2012 Governor Neil Abercrombie signed into law bills aimed at promoting economic and high technology development in the State. Among the measures enacted include House Bill (HB) 2319, Relating to Economic Development, and HB 2873, Relating to The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES).

HB 2319 establishes a $2 million dollar venture accelerator funding program under the Hawai’i Strategic Development Corporation (HSDC) to assist the State’s technology start-ups compete for investment capital. The program will assist in the growth of technology businesses in the State, including areas such as information technology, aerospace, science, renewable energy, engineering, and film and digital media production.

The creation of the venture accelerator funding program provides an urgently-needed means of supporting emerging high tech businesses in Hawai’i,” said Senate Committee on Economic Development and Technology Chair Carol Fukunaga. “It represents an important phase of HSDC’s transition into a more hands-on, working entity rather than solely for disbursements to venture funds.”

(Carol Fukunaga, David Ige, and Will Espero join Governor Abercrombie for the signing of House Bill 2873 into law.)

Looking ahead into the future of innovation and tourism, HB 2873 transfers the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) from the University of Hawai’i to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism’s Office of Aerospace Development, establishes a PISCES board of directors, and appropriates funds. This measure will give PISCES the flexibility necessary to operate effectively within the rapidly-evolving aerospace sector while keeping Hawaii competitive and attractive to space industry partners.

The passage of this measure is vital to our State’s future economic growth and development,” said Senator Fukunaga. “By promoting innovative industries, PISCES can aid in Hawaii’s economic growth through creation of new, sustainable green industries along with high-paying jobs, workforce development, internships, and education programs in science, technology, engineering, and math.”

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Jun

21

Governor Signs Bill Relating to Broadband

Articles / Press Releases / Technology

Governor Neil Abercrombie this afternoon signed House Bill 1342.  The bill, now Act 151, expedites the permitting process for broadband infrastructure.  With this measure, broadband providers are exempt from state and county permitting requirements for installation, construction

and development of broadband infrastructure for a 5-year period.   Reducing the time needed for permitting approvals is a key step towards increased investment in broadband technology and services in Hawaii.

“Speeding up the deployment of high-speed broadband throughout the state will enable new opportunities for telehealth, and give Hawaii’s digital businesses an edge in competing for new work,” said Senator Carol Fukunaga, chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Technology.

The law goes into effect on July 1, 2011.

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Mar

18

Hele mai, Google

Articles / Technology

by Senator Will Espero
District 20

Play Station 3, Wii, X-Box players, stand up and get noticed! Come on, you all know that the player with the fastest download is the one who’ll probably win. And with slow download, disconnects are such a drag…….

How does one gigabit broadband sound to you? It could happen if Hawaii gets more on the ball to show community support for the Google Gigabit Broadband Initiative. The United States is 38th in the world in internet speed, and Google wants US to get with the game, literally. A nationwide call for interest, deadline March 26, is out there for communities that want to be the test site for Google’s one gigabit demonstration project. Add your name to the list for supporting Hawaii as the chosen locale.

Google is looking for communities of 50,000 to 500,000. Its ultimate goal is to put pressure on broadband providers across the county to provide affordable, ultra high speed internet. In 2005, the town of Nuenen, Holland was an early test site for Fiber-to-the-Home technology, through European providers. Within the first year, 90% of residents signed up for the free installation, and by the end of the demonstration period, 97% of all households were connected. About a 100 new businesses sprang up, which were made possible by the availability of ultra high speed broadband capabilities. Since that time, Japan, Canada, and other countries have begun offering ultra high speed broadband.

About Google

Google is the creation of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Their mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The two doctoral candidates got their first funding from Sun Microsystem’s co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, $100,000 in August 1998, before it was even incorporated on September 4, 1998. Less than a year later, in June 1999, major investors contributed $25 million.

Five years later, Google’s initial public offering (IPO) took place in August 2004 in a unique online auction format. More than 19 million shares were offered at $85 a share. The sale of $1.67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion. The vast majority of the 271 million shares remained under Google control. Many Google employees became instant paper millionaires. Its competitor, Yahoo!, benefitted, because it owned 8.4 million shares before the IPO took place. Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords, against Page & Brin’s initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine.

The Google web search engine is the dominant search engine in the US market, with a 65.6% market share. Google indexes billions of web pages so that users can search for the keywords they desire. Its web search technology has been employed into other search services: Image Search, Google News, Google Product Search (a price comparison site), Google Maps, Google Earth, and more. Advertising on Google provides 99% of its revenue, with a reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues for the 2006 fiscal year. Gmail is a free webmail service provided by Google. The service currently offers over 7400 MB of free storage with additional storage available for a fee. Google Translate handles 35 different languages. Picasa allows users to share photos. Then there’s YouTube. Providing all of this internet service are Google’s 24 server farms around the world of various configurations. It has 17 offices in the U.S., including The Dalles, Oregon; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Google executive compensation has allowed them to become investors in other start-ups. Former top executives now head other tech companies. YouTube’s former chief financial officer, Google’s former vice president of global online sales, and a high ranking engineer, all left Google to join Facebook. A program manager and senior specialist co-founded Twitter.

Ultra High Speed Internet Can Revolutionize the Way We Live

The ultra high speed internet makes possible breakthroughs in many areas Hawaii must confront, such as revitalizing the economy. Cloud computing lowers the cost of starting up a business by eliminating the high cost of purchasing hardware and software by transferring these to an off-site provider. The reduced initial investment will make it possible for more entrepreneurs to become business owners. Without servers to cool, less air conditioning is required. The savings in IT infrastructure and electricity lowers a business’s operating expenses, helping keep them profitable.

Remote medicine will make it possible for rural residents to receive specialist consultations without flying to Oahu. The high quality visual images and sound transmission can enable doctors to view the same records simultaneously so they can discuss treatment plans. It may not always be feasible for doctors to take time off from a busy practice to learn new techniques, but with ultra high speed internet, many physicians can learn from the same teleconference. High quality images with continuous sound will allow doctors to learn procedures in entirety and ask questions to keep their medical training current.

Telework is another concept that can come to life. Working from home via internet connection takes workers off the crowded highways, relieving traffic congestion. With education, live video webcasting will allow more teachers to participate in professional development because with no more transportation costs to pay, more education dollars can be used for registering teachers for courses to help them learn the most current, effective instructional methods.

These are just a few of the ways that ultra high speed broadband can change the way we do things. Being selected as a test site could be an exciting opportunity for Hawaii. Let’s show our support by signing the online petition. Google, aloha, hele mai.

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Mar

04

In support of streamlined sales tax proposal

Articles / Economic Development / Press Releases / Technology / Ways and Means

The Keiki Caucus, along with business and community leaders, yesterday gathered in support of SB 2405 and HB 2352, which would allow Hawaii to implement the streamlined sales and use tax agreement and collect taxes on out-of-state sales. Currently, Hawaii is unable to collect sales tax on out-of-state purchases, including those made through catalogs and over the Internet. The proposed measures would adopt amendments to Hawaii tax laws to implement the existing streamlined sales and use tax agreement.

The amount of sales and use tax revenues that have remained uncollected is significant. “Last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures calculated that $245.5 million was not collected by our state,” said Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, chair of the Human Services Committee. “At the same time, hundreds of thousands of children and youth in Hawaii are being impacted by the cuts that have already been made in public education, child care, higher education, public health services, youth services and public assistance, to name a few.”

“Think about furlough Fridays,” suggested Representative John Mizuno. “If we had collected that $245 million, would this even be an issue?”

Mizuno also stressed that, “This is not a new tax. It is just uncollected tax.”

For the business community, there is also a concern that businesses selling via catalogs or over the Internet and do not collect the sales and use tax enjoy an unfair advantage. “For us, it’s all about competition,” said Dick Botti of the Hawaii Retail Association. “If somebody can order something from the mainland over the Internet and avoid the taxes, it creates an unfair playing field, and this helps level it. We need this type of legislation.”

According to Carol Pregill of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, “The retail industry in Hawaii employs about twenty-three percent of our workforce. This bill would give us the opportunity, the latitude, the revenue, the break that we need that we can continue to employ our Hawaii people in our industry.”

Since 1969, Hawaii law has required that buyers pay a tax whenever they purchase something outside of Hawaii through a catalog, the Internet, or by other means. However, the means has not been available to collect those taxes.

“With technology, we now have a way to help our tax departments collect the taxes that are due, help level the playing field for our local businesses, and help preserve those programs that are at the core of government services,” said Senator Carol Fukunaga, chair of the Economic Development and Technology Committee.

In 2003, Hawaii became a participant in the national Streamlined Sales Tax Project by enacting the Hawaii Simplified Sales and Use Tax Administration Act (Act 173, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003). In 2009, the State Legislature passed streamlined sales and use tax legislation by wide margins (23-2 in the Senate, 42-7 in the House) but Governor Linda Lingle vetoed the measure. Twenty-three states representing over thirty percent of the nation’s population have already been certified as being in compliance with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement: Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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Jan

28

Premiere of the Senate paperless video documentary

Articles / Capitol Meetings & Events / Press Releases / Technology

We are pleased to announce the premiere of “The Senate Paperless Initiative,” a video documenting the Senate’s ongoing efforts to reduce paper use and streamline key operations. The Paperless Initiative helped cut the Senate budget by reducing personnel and operating costs.

The premiere will provide a status report reviewing the results achieved through the Initiative and inform the public how the Senate has reduced their legislative budget.

                        WHEN:           Friday, January 29, 2010
                                                10:30 a.m.

                        WHERE:         Auditorium
                                                Hawaii State Capitol

The program will feature an introduction by Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and Senator David Ige, a presentation of the video, and recognition of key individuals involved.

The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC so please join us! Contact (808) 586-7142 for more information.

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Feb

02

State Senate and ‘Olelo unveil on-demand webcasts of hearings

Articles / Press Releases / Technology

The Hawai‘i State Senate and ‘Olelo Community Television today announced that Senate hearings that are cablecast on ‘Olelo will also be available for on-demand viewing on the Internet for up to six months from the hearing date. Via a link provided on the Senate’s home page, users will be allowed to search the archive based on the closed captioning that is already offered on Senate cablecasts. Full use of the free public service requires a broadband connection. The initial pilot project is scheduled to last six months.

“This is an excellent way to offer the public still greater access to the workings of their government,” said Senate President Colleen Hanabusa. “It is an important step, along with our paperless initiative and providing committee testimony online, that will allow the public to follow the Senate’s decision-making process, even if their personal schedules do not allow them to come to the Capitol on a regular basis.”

‘Olelo President and CEO Keali‘i Lopez shares the Senate’s vision of making their deliberations more accessible. “We are excited about offering this pilot service to the State Senate and appreciate their eagerness to make their legislative proceedings so readily accessible to the public,” Lopez said. “although ‘Olelo serves the island of O‘ahu, we know our neighbor island counterparts value that the communities they serve throughout the state can also access their State government’s proceedings.”

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Apr

13

The Legislature Goes Wireless

Articles / Technology

In an effort to promote public access and provide greater convenience to Hawaii residents, the State Capitol now provides free wireless Internet services to State Capitol visitors. Free wireless Internet access is available in the House and Senate conference rooms, the Capitol Auditorium, corridors along the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, the Public Access Room and the Chamber hallway. Most wireless devices will automatically detect if their users are within the broadcast area.

Click here for a full copy of the announcement.

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