ASLIB Minutes - November 18, 1998

November 18, 1998

Attending Members
Mr. William Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Office of Information Technology
Mr. Shelby Johnson, CAST
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, U of A at Monticello

Members Unable to Attend
Dr. Robert Bennett, Arkansas State University
Ms. Cathie Matthews / Mr. Cecil Davis, Alternate, Dept. of Arkansas Heritage
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Corporation
Mr. Ben Kittler, Kittler Surveying
Mr. Phil Schoettlin, Chamber of Commerce, Fayetteville
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solution Center

Guests
Jelyn Thomas, Arkansas Highway Department
Scott Sutterfield, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

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The meeting was called to order and roll was called.

Land Information Coordinator

Bill Bush opened the meeting by asking Susan Cromwell to bring the Board up to date on the status of the State Land Information Coordinator position.

Susan Cromwell said that the interview process the Department of Information Systems uses requires a standardized set of questions to be used for each applicant, and she asked the Board members for input regarding any special skills questions that would be needed. Susan also asked whether the Board would like to form a subcommittee to assist specifically in the interview process for this position. She explained that she would like at least one Board member to be on the interview team, which would consist of herself, another DIS person (probably Clarence Durand). Sixteen applications have been received and she asked for assistance in screening these applications. Susan asked that Bill Bush communicate with the members by Email and choose a representative to sit in on the interviews. Bill also suggested that if the screening process turns up two or three evenly matched applicants, DIS may want the Board's feedback on those applicants.

Susan Cromwell explained that it will be possible to extend the application period if no qualified applicant is found this time around. Shelby Johnson recommended that the applicants might be required to provide a portfolio of project work. Bill Bush agreed that it would be good to see a sample of the applicants' writing abilities. Susan also explained that it is not the State's practice to pay for travel expenses, and Bill Bush recommended a phone interview process to cull the applicants. The suggestion was made that it also might be possible to do a video interview if the applicant had access to a video site.

Annual Report and Mission Statement

Bill Bush said that he will draw up an annual report for review, which will be drawn from the year's minutes. He explained that the report would have to be approved by a quorum of the members and then filed by the end of December. Bill also pointed out that if the annual report and mission statement are not filed, that the Board would be unable to present any legislation during the next session.

Attendance

The members discussed the need to come up with some recommendations as to potential Board appointees to forward to the Governor's Office. Bill Bush explained that the Board now consists of three state representatives, three city/county representatives, two private sector representatives, and three academic representatives. In the previous meeting, nominees had been suggested from the city/county sector, but that the Board actually needed a nominee from the private sector. Bill did say that the city/county nominee list would probably be usable in the future, as several members have missed three meetings in a row and he had had to send their names to the Governor's Office. The Governor's Office will contact them and then the members have 20 days to respond regarding their attendance. If they have good reasons for being unable to attend the meetings, then they will remain on the Board.

Susan Cromwell strongly recommended that a representative from the telecommunications industry or utility industries would be very valuable to the Board. Several suggestions were made, which included Entergy, Alltel, and Southwestern Bell. The members agreed that they would all search their contacts with private industry to try and locate possible nominees for the Board. Bill Bush asked that if anyone came up with a name, to let him know and he'd forward the recommendation to the Governor's Office.

Legislative Issues

Bill Bush explained that he had found out that the Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology was not scheduled to meet again for the rest of the year. Shelby Johnson explained that he had conversed with Michael Hipp of DIS and was informed that any legislation the Board initiates does not require approval by the Joint Committee, just review. Bill Bush explained that since the Board couldn't ask the Committee to meet, the Board could submit reports for distribution anyway and assume that if there was a problem with the report, the Committee would contact the Board. He said that is what the Board will do with the strategic plan. It will be submitted to the Joint Committee and to Michael Hipp, and whatever else is in the legislation, and then submit a copy to the Legislative Council and ask them to mail it out to the members. Bill Bush explained that the Board could comply simply by submitting the reports and by making sure that any proposed legislation be submitted to the chairman and all committee members.

Susan Cromwell explained that the Board will not really have any legislation. The Board will have legislation for which it will find a sponsor, and that sponsor will have legislation. She said that there are key individuals who can meet with the Board and help prepare and seek sponsorship. Susan recommended that Senator Gordon on the Joint Committee would be a very good place to start. The members agreed that researching the new legislators would be valuable in order to find out which ones would support technology initiatives.

Bill Bush pointed out that it is very important to track legislation through the process and someone will need to keep up with this.

Geodetic Advisor

Bill Bush reminded the Board that he had sent out a questionnaire to all the Geodetic Advisors in the country and that he has been getting some responses. He said that he will make copies for the Board members once he has most of them back. He commented that most of the responses at this point had been very positive. Some of the questions he asked were:

How much money does your state put into the program?
What do they provide in the way of equipment or staff?

He was surprised to find out that they didn't really have any staff, but that they were there primarily to educate and to train in most of the states. He said it looked like it was costing a state between $150,000 and $200,000 a year to support a Geodetic Advisor program, with what is required as far as overhead, office space, part of the salary and benefits, and other expenses. He felt that there is enough information coming in for the Board to get a handle on what was needed for the same type of program in Arkansas.

Legislative Strategy

Guest: Julie Cullen, Deputy Director of DIS

Susan Cromwell introduced Julie Cullen, who was invited to talk to the Board regarding legislative strategies for the upcoming legislative session in 1999. Julie explained that she is the Deputy Director of the Department of Information Systems and she reports to Michael Hipp. She explained that she met with him prior to this meeting to talk about what role DIS would play in any legislation that the Board proposes.

Julie began by explaining that the dynamics of this legislative session would be very different in that there are at least 50 new members in the House and around 14 new senators. Republicans have gained two seats the split in the House is 28 seats, and they lost one seat in the Senate. She explained that as far legislators with interested in information technology issues, in the Senate there is Senator Gordon and Senator Malone, and in the House is Representative Magnus and Representative Percy Malone. The firs thing she advised the Board to do is to find a sponsor for any bills. Prefiling has already begun and bills are being filed right now.

Information about Presenting Legislation

Find a sponsor (preferably a senior member) who is sympathetic to the bill and explain what you want;
The legislator will pass the outline to the Bureau of Legislative Research for drafting or for research/approval;
The Bureau of Legislative Research will determine whether it is a new bill or an amendment to a previous bill;
Try to file a joint bill with a House and a Senate sponsor, if allowed under next session rules, which will help ensure support;
Prefiled bills are put under more scrutiny; middle-filed bills are better; late bills may not be considered
Appropriations do not necessarily guarantee funding - must lobby for both;
Funds come from the clearinghouse, capital improvement fund (Governor's Office), or out of general revenue;
Lobbying for bill position is critical in regards to funding; during session, the Governor's Office has a meeting to preview filed bills to rate the bills as A (support it - a "Governor's Bill"); B (support the bill, will sign, but will not be consider a "Governor's Bill"); C (neutral - no support, may or may not sign);D (will not support or will try to get amended); F (does not support and will veto);
If it has revenue impact, might get bad rating - but if the Governor vetoes, the legislature might override the veto;
The bill will need to be tracked throughout the legislative process;

Julie emphasized how important it is to not only lobby for appropriations, but to also be sure and lobby for funding. Susan Cromwell pointed out that DIS has already filed its budget, and that whatever appropriation the Board went after would have to be housed at DIS, because of legislation. Shelby Johnson commented that it appeared that the most important route would be to pursue an amendment process to the DIS appropriation. Julie agreed and said that this would be possible through a sponsor in the legislature, like Senator Gordon, but she explained DIS was given appropriations money in an unanticipated services fund and recommended that the LIB work through that category and not through the main department appropriation. She explained the Board should get the money and then DIS will amend the appropriation after the session.

Julie explained that the bill would need to be tracked throughout the legislative process, but that DIS has a good bill tracking process and DIS will help follow the legislation for lobbying purposes. She also pointed out that in terms of funding, it could be possible to ask other agencies to ask for funding in their budgets and provide cooperative funding for the LIB projects. Julie brought up the Department of Finance and Administrations "Fund Clearinghouse," where funding may be requested for projects and suggested that one of the Board members pursue information regarding how to request funds from the clearinghouse. She explained that every director of every agency is on the clearinghouse panel. Bill Bush commented that he is on that panel and had participated in the review process, but he did not know how the application process worked.

Shelby Johnson asked what would be the best emphasis would be on a bill in order to catch the Governor's attention for support on a bill. Julie explained that economic development is a number one issue for the Governor and that if a bill could be linked to that topic, it would be more likely to garner support. She also pointed out that the Governor is also very interested in technology issues for the state. Susan Cromwell pointed out that the concept of accountability is an important topic regarding legislative initiatives.

Julie explained that if the Board would let her know when a bill was introduced and she would help the Board track the bill throughout the process, since she would be doing the same for other legislation. Shelby Johnson asked how the Board might get involved in the tracking process, and Julie explained that there is a public comments time on bills and that is the time to pack the house with supporters. Suzanne Wiley asked that if when the bill goes to committee, is there an opportunity to defend the bill, and Bill Bush explained that the Board would probably be invited to be there. She said there are chances at every stage of processing in committee to support the bill. Julie pointed out that very few people use the opportunity that is offered to support bills, but that the people who use it are rewarded. She also recommended joint filing with co-sponsors from the House and the Senate.

Ms. Cullen concluded by telling the members that if they had any specific questions, they should contact her directly.

Strategic Plan

Bill Bush explained that he had started working on the Annual Report, and he used the Mission Statement in the Report. Shelby Johnson said that he had received no comments on the Mission Statement, and that the Strategic Plan had received no comments from other LIB members as well. Suzanne Wiley expressed the concern that preparing legislation at this point in time was more important than completing the Strategic Plan, and Bill Bush concurred. It was agreed that the members would continue working on the Plan, but that the Board would focus on legislative issues for the moment.

Additional Legislative Discussion

Bill Bush said that he would look into the Fund Clearinghouse to see how the Board might apply for funding for proposed projects. He said that determining the source of revenue would be the first thing to decide, and that general revenue funds would be difficult to obtain and would take lots of justification and would have to be linked to economic development, etc. He voiced the opinion that over a longer period of time, it might be possible to look to the agencies for support and co-funding of the project. Another thing he suggested was to attach amendments on to DIS' appropriation bill, and that if the Board could get appropriations, then if money could be located it would be possible to spend it. Another possibility he mentioned was the possibility of getting federal grants for a startup project, which would require matching funds, but he added that it is easier to get matching funds that complete funding. Suzanne Wiley did point out that this would be a one-shot deal.

Bill Bush commented that he had spoken with Ray Fox regarding the DOQs and that Mr. Fox felt these could be contracted and completed within a year's time. He pointed out that asking for funding from the legislature for a two-year span might make the appropriation more palatable, but that the DOQs could still be completed within a year and Mr. Fox was amenable to this.

Bill Bush asked the Board to decide exactly how much money would be needed for the Clearinghouse project, and Suzanne Wiley said that an RFP would need to be issued. Shelby Johnson pointed out that it was too late to do this and the best thing would be to make a reasonable estimate of the costs. Bill Bush pointed out that the costs would have to be well justified prior to presentation for legislative backing. The Board decided to just evaluate what the bottom line would be, and possibly break it into sections for hardware, software, support, etc. Shelby Johnson suggested that the proposal analysis of the original board from 1994 be used as a guideline and he agreed to look at the document. Suzanne Wiley asked as to whether the Board wanted to ask for funding for an office to support the SLIC position. Bill Bush commented that after initial legislative funding, it would be possible to recoup costs by becoming self-supporting over a period of time.

Suzanne Wiley made the suggestion that the Board get something on paper as to what funding was needed, and then the Board needed to finish the public relations presentation. Bill Bush recommended that the first thing would be to contact the Board's official liaison in the Governor's Office and look into how much support might be available.

Next Meeting

It was decided that the next meeting would be held on Thursday, December 10, from 9 a.m. to noon, and that if a quorum could not be present, it might be possible to arrange a conference call in order to vote on issues.

Suzanne Wiley volunteered to pull together a rough draft of legislation together of all the options the Board wants with some numbers. Bill Bush said he would get together a draft of the Annual Report and Mission Statement for the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.