State webmaster bill draws Microsoft attention

Bill would allow for state webmaster

A bill for the innocuous-sounding purpose of establishing the position of state webmaster is reportedly attracting the nervous interest of high-tech lobbying interests, most notably Microsoft.

The bill, which is being carried in the Legislature by Sen. Don Betzold and Rep. Phyllis Kahn, the chairs of the Senate and House State Government Finance committees, would create the position of state webmaster to oversee the development of coordinated, information-generous state government websites and to make the data presented there more readily accessible and useable for the public.

The legislation is an outgrowth of work done last year to improve the state’s federal stimulus reporting website. State officials spent months working on upgrades to the site, including the addition of online project mapping tools, after a watchdog group gave the state a low grade for its public disclosure.

Some legislators and public information groups now want to make online innovations on all state government websites.

“There are a lot of sites where if you are a citizen trying to find stuff, you’re going to have trouble,” said Betzold, DFL-Fridley.

The bill has already passed out of policy committees in the House and Senate ahead of Friday’s first policy bill deadline. The House version sponsored by Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, is in the State Government Finance Division. Betzold’s version is in the Senate Finance Committee.

The bill’s path through the Legislature has touched on a point of contention that is unique to the high tech industry. As the bill currently is written in the House version, the webmaster would develop “standards” for “enhanced public access to state electronic records.”

Some who have followed the bill say that the call for standards is controversial for software companies like Microsoft Corp., who are worried that governments might embrace open-source software solutions that would leave their proprietary products out in the cold. Mike Dean, the executive director of Common Cause — which supports the bill — said he’s observed that some software firms are concerned that the bill will steer the state toward open-source technology options.

Neither Microsoft nor any other software company has testified or commented publicly on the bill this session.

An amendment to the Senate version of the bill effectively removed Microsoft’s concerns in that chamber. Betzold said that, specifically, he agreed to remove the term “standards” from his bill in an earlier committee hearing. The bill now calls for “a policy” instead of standards to be developed to enhance access to electronic data. Betzold said the change in words was satisfactory to the technology industry, while still keeping the intent of the bill intact.

Kahn’s bill, however, still calls for “standards” for public online data.

She said she’s aware of the buzz indicating that the industry wanted the amendment inserted in Betzold’s bill. She said she would be willing to hear “a strong argument” from the industry about their concerns. At the moment, though, she thinks it would be appropriate for the state to move in the direction of open-source technology for websites.

“I think I’m inclined to keeping the word ‘standards’ in,” Kahn said. “I think that open source gives the most flexibility,” Kahn said.

Government transparency advocates have high hopes for the bill and other anticipated public information initiatives.

Dean hopes the bill will lay the foundation for a “government 2.0” platform for public information. He said citizens need to be able to pull together strands of data from different websites.

“A lot of the state agencies don’t have the same standards for their websites. They basically speak different languages with their data,” Dean said.

The state’s Office of Enterprise Technology testified in favor of Kahn’s bill in front of the House State and Local Government Operations committee. OET also has some concerns about implementation, and says it will need money to undertake the project. A fiscal note for the bill is being prepared, but hadn’t been released as of press time.

A similar proposal in Utah in 2008 was estimated to cost $480,000 in one-time expenses for software, hardware and construction costs to create a data warehouse, and another $250,000 in ongoing spending.

Some state legislators oppose centralizing the duties of Web design. Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, said state agencies should be left to their own devices when it comes to online information.

“To have legislation, it shows more of a broken system than one that is flexible and can innovate,” Buesgens said.

Betzold disagrees. He contends that state agencies aren’t in the business of running websites.

“We’ve let them develop the websites themselves and they are a hodgepodge,” Betzold said.

Dean said citizens often can’t combine data from state websites. For example, he said, the public would benefit from being able to pull data in real time about state lakes from the state Department of Resources and health information from the state Department of Health.

“This would allow us to take different bits from various state agencies and bring it together and start analyzing how the health of public lakes is affecting public health,” Dean said.