BILL NUMBER: S4914

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the state technology law, in relation
to state agency websites

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill requires that all state agencies create and maintain mobile
friendly platforms for their websites and resources. By providing for
mobile friendly forms of state websites the state will ensure wide-
spread, equivalent and improved access to state resources.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Establishes that all current and future state agency websites
be offered in a mobile friendly form and shall be made available for all
mobile devices.

Section 2: Provides the enacting clause.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Since 2007, with the introduction of the first (phone, mobile devices
and smartphones have brought about a technological revolution in terms
of the way consumers access and use online resources.  Smartphones,
tablets and newer operating systems for desktops and laptops have begun
to shift the marketplace away from landlines and desktops towards more
mobile pathways.

To illustrate the demographic shift, the Pew Research Center reported on
April 1, 2015, that 64% of American adults now own a smartphone, up from
35% in the spring of 2011. The same research report indicated that 10%
of American adults rely solely on their mobile device for internet
access in their homes. Further illustrating the need for updated
websites, in 2014, Google altered its search engine results pages to
list websites that are mobile friendly as prioritized in search results
in response to the paradigm shift that mobile device use has caused in
internet access.

The state remains in the technological dark ages in terms of providing
Mobile-friendly access to citizens who rely on the state's services and
resources. Being that the vast majority of state affiliated websites are
only available in desktop format, the state is effectively double
dipping by making residents use more of their data plans to access crit-
ical information and resources, while taxing use of such mobile devices
via cellphone and utility taxes. The state should ensure that steps are
taken to provide equal access to all citizens.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017: Veto, Memo  179

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal. The state already allocates funding for website maintenance to
each state agency. Any additional costs in connection with the updating
of such websites is expected to be recouped in the long haul througre-

ductions in data traffic thanks to significantly smaller website data
requirements.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first day of January 2020.