Joint Hearing
Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee
Senate Select Committee on Economic Development

Bridging The Digital Divide: Striving For Solutions

State Capitol, Room 112
March 14, 2000
2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

I. Opening Comments

• Senator Debra Bowen, Chairwoman, Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee
• Senator John Vasconcellos, Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Economic Development

II. How Can Government Stretch Its Infrastructure?

• Luis Herrera, Pasadena Public Library
• Richard Chabran, Computers In Our Future
• Ann Cousineau, California Library Association
• Representative, Association of California School Administrators

III. The Non-Profit Experience

• Bill Meyers, U.S. Internet Council
• Paul Lamb, StreetTech
• Marty Omoto, CalNeva Community Action Association

IV. Private Sector Participation

• Rajan Nagarajan, Ford Motor Company
• Teresa Casazza, American Electronics Association
• Rich Hall, Intel, on behalf of the California Manufacturer's Association

Bridging the Digital Divide: Striving for Solutions

Issue Overview
March 14, 2000

There have been a number of interesting developments since these two committees held their first digital divide hearing on January 25, 2000.

Digital Divide Study

The first is the publication of a study performed jointly by National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government which found that a digital divide does indeed exist for older, low income, and less educated Americans. That study, based on two telephone surveys in late 1999, also found that the digital divide is narrowing.

On the issue of race, the survey found that home-computer ownership is much higher with low-income whites than low-income blacks, but at higher incomes the difference vanishes.

On the issue of government assistance, 57% of those surveyed believe the government should help low-income people get access to computers and the Internet and 78% of those surveyed said the government should help low-income children. (The complete survey results are available on NPR's website at www.npr.org.)

Public, Private, & Non-Profit Sector Developments

• The Clinton Administration has rolled out a comprehensive proposal to provide, a) $2 billion in tax incentives to encourage private sector donation of computers, sponsorship of community technology centers, and technology training for workers; b) $150 million to train teachers to use technology; and c) $100 million to create Community Technology Centers in low-income and rural neighborhoods.
• The Governor of Maine is proposing to give every seventh grader a laptop computer with Internet service.
• Ford Motor Company, Delta Airlines, and Intel are virtually giving computers and Internet access to all their employees for use at home.
• SmartForce, a technology training company, has launched a program to provide 1,000 low-income Oakland residents with free online computer training.
• The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is opening a project office in Silicon Valley to spearhead its efforts to close the digital divide.

Using Existing Public Resources More Efficiently

Given the fact that California taxpayers have invested millions of dollars in efforts to modernize schools and other public buildings to provide them with computers, Internet access, and much more, one of the things that today’s hearing will look at is whether the state is using those existing resources as completely and efficiently as possible.

For example, if a school uses its computers from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., are there barriers to using that infrastructure to help other segments of society bridge the digital divide?

Are the barriers primarily statutory or financial?

Assuming the state has a limited number of dollars to spend to help Californians bridge the digital divide, is it cost effective to provide tax credits to spur computer and Internet usage in the home?

Or would the state reach more people by taking those same dollars and paying the operational costs of keeping a library open for longer hours or teaching classes at public or private facilities where the hardware costs have already been paid for?

These and other questions will be addressed by a cross section of panelists during today’s hearing.