[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1869-E1870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            CONGRESSIONAL INTERNET CAUCUS E-GOVERNMENT EVENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RICK BOUCHER

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 2000

  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, as Co-Chair of the Congressional Internet 
Caucus, I have long had a keen interest in how the Internet revolution 
is affecting the relationship between citizens and their government. In 
my own district, we have held an annual conference at which we discuss 
what government can do better to improve the way it delivers services 
and information to the public via the Internet.
  As we seek to find ways to better connect with our increasingly 
Internet-savvy constituents, I think our colleagues may learn much by 
looking at how state and local governments are using electronic means 
to deliver services to the public. For this reason, I thought my 
colleagues would be interested in the results of a study entitled, 
``Benchmarking the eGovernment Revolution: Year 2000 Report on Citizen 
and Business Demand.'' I understand this to have been the first 
national survey that asked citizens and businesses what state and local 
government services they want to access online.
  The survey found that citizens rank renewing their driver's license 
and voting online

[[Page E1870]]

highest among the electronic government services they wish to perform. 
Businesses are most interested in searching court records and obtaining 
or renewing professional licenses online. Perhaps surprisingly, both 
citizens and businesses expressed a high degree of willingness to pay 
modest transaction fees in return for the convenience of being able to 
access government services via the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a 
week.
  The survey also confirmed that trust is the most critical issue 
facing government in providing online services to constituents. The 
survey found, for example, that only one-third of current Internet 
users trust the government to keep their records confidential. Clearly, 
government agencies are going to have to work harder to develop the 
level of trust necessary for citizens to increase their use of the 
Internet for accessing electronic government services.
  As part of the work of the Congressional Internet Caucus next year, 
we will undertake an effort to educate Members about how this 
``eGovernment'' revolution is proceeding at the state level, as well as 
how they can better connect with their constituents through electronic 
means. As part of this effort, we need to assess ways to bridge the 
digital divide so that all of our constituents can participate in the 
Internet Century. I anticipate that we also will continue to offer a 
series of sessions on the most pressing Intellectual Property issues of 
the day, such as the award of business method patents and ways to 
update the Copyright Act so that it continues to reflect evolutions in 
technology.
  We will of course welcome the participation of all Members in the 
Caucus and their suggestions on developing new means of connecting with 
our constituents.

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