- Business Leaders, Past Utah State CIOs Declare Support for HB 109 -
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Utah business leaders are speaking
out in support of legislation for the Information Technology (IT) Reform Bill
(House Bill 109).
A two-year study has pointed to many potential improvements to Utah's
current IT structure that could save the state as much as several million
dollars a year. One specific item in the study pointed to a potential savings
of $700,000 for copies of software licenses the state does not actually need.
Speaking via the Utah Information Technology Association (UITA), business
leaders including the past three Utah state CIOs support this new legislation
that proposes to do the following:
* Increase IT efficiencies throughout state government
* Provide greater benefit and service to state agencies
* Potentially save millions of taxpayer dollars
* Increase security
* Eliminate redundancy
* Create a new Department of Technology Services to replace what has
previously been a division within the Department of Administrative
Services
* Authorize Governor Huntsman to carry out a transition of personnel,
funding and assets to this new department over a period of 18 months
"This is a good government efficiency bill," said Richard Nelson,
president of the Utah Information Technology Association (UITA), speaking on
behalf of more than 2,900 technology companies statewide. "We applaud this
industry-driven effort, and we are pleased to underscore Governor Huntsman's
support of this bill. We believe the technology structure of our state will
be substantially stronger as the result of this initiative."
State officials including Representative David Clark, R-Santa Clara, and
Senator Beverly Evans, R-Altamont, who are co-authors of the legislation have
characterized the proposed transition as a "natural restructuring" akin to
other transformations nationwide, as the demands on the public I.T. sector
have evolved.
"HB 109 will give tools to the government that will be used to re-organize
technology resources in a manner that will save taxpayer dollars, provide
greater benefits and services, and be fair to state employees," Clark
remarked.
About UITA
As Utah's premier professional organization for technology companies, the
Utah Information Technology Association (UITA) exists to form closer
relationships with industry and community leaders, develop superior management
talent, sharpen professional skills and help gain access to capital. For more
information on UITA, please visit http://www.uita.org.
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