By Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Friday, November 15, 2002; 2:54 PM
The U.S. House of Representatives early Friday passed legislation
designed to jump-start federal e-government initiatives.
The bill would fund an e-government department in the White House Office of Management and Budget with $45 million in its first year of operation, an amount that would increase to $150 million by 2006.
It also would create a board to select technologies aimed at fostering
cooperation between government agencies, and would establish a program
to evaluate and fund new anti-terrorism technologies.
Legislators also attached language from the "The Digital Tech Corps
Act," a bill that calls for a worker exchange program of mid-level
information technology managers between the federal government and the
private sector.
Exchange workers would remain at their host location from six to 24
months, and would retain pay and benefits from their original
employers throughout the assignment.
In the name of increasing the average citizen's access to government,
the measure requires the Library of Congress to work with several
other federal agencies and the private sector to establish an online
national library. The bill also would give federal courts two years to
establish Web sites where the public could go to get online information
about filings and other public case information.
In addition, the legislation would give federal regulatory agencies two years to establish public Web sites for rulemaking and docketing information, and would create an online federal telephone directory.
Lawmakers also included the "Federal Information Security Management
Act" in the bill to give Congress permanent oversight of federal agency computer security matters.
The bill would make permanent a law slated to sunset on Nov. 29 that requires federal agencies to regularly test for and fix any security holes in their networks. The legislation also would expand the amount of computer security information agencies must collect and submit to Congress annually.
A similar digital government bill introduced by Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) passed the Senate earlier this year, though the measure differs on several points. For example, the Senate bill would nearly double the funding for the e-government office and would mandate Senate approval of the office's director.
Republican sources said the Senate likely will vote on the House version of the bill before it adjourns next week.
