GOVERNMENT

The Montana Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) http://nris.state.mt.us today announced its web site usage in January 2003 set an all-time record for the program. The site received nearly 1.3 million hits during more than 59,000…

New enhancements to the state’s legislative Web site will now make it even easier for people to find information about Montana’s lawmakers and their actions online. By ALLISON FARRELL, IR State Bureau The new, printer-friendly…

Todd Capser, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Technology Foundation in Billings, has been named the new state director for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. By TOM HOWARD Of The Gazette Staff Capser, a former aide…

A Grim Fiscal Forecast for States Survey Predicts Continuing Crisis and Pressure to Raise Taxes By Dale Russakoff Washington Post Staff Writer The fiscal crisis now shaking state and local governments appears likely to grow…

Under the law, every regulatory agency must establish a Web site to collect and post public comments on every rule it considers. For example, if the Federal Aviation Administration were considering a new rule about air travel, members of the public would be able to comment on the rule by e-mail messages and to read comments from others. (Is this something we should consider for each Montana State legislative committee so that the public can comment on proposed legislation?- Russ)

Sen. Duane Grimes, a Clancy Republican and advocate of the system, hopes it will improve the Legislature’s public image.
"It will allow Montanans to see what fellow Montanans do here as citizen legislators," he said. "The Legislature will be more highly regarded when they see what we do on a day-to-day basis." (This is great but is there an easier way to communicate with our legislators using e-mail?- Russ)

A key legislative committee told the Martz administration Wednesday it should pull the plug on remnants of a problem-plagued and undependable computer system that has cost the state $37 million and still doesn’t work properly….

(Interesting observations about the difficulty of developing state-wide technology initiatives- Russ)

Last week the Census and Economic Information Center web site was updated to include some Census 2000 data in a new format. First of all, from Summary File 1 (SF1, the 100% data) we added…

Is a proposed IT investment going to pay for itself? If it will, how soon will it do so? The return on investment question is ? or at least should be ? a common concern…