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Utah Business Leaders Support I.T. Reform Bill

Business leaders, past Utah state CIOs declare support for HB 109

SALT LAKE CITY, February 15, 2005 – 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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Agency Contact:
Bret Fitzgerald
T) 801.208.1100
F) 801.208.1108
E) bret.fitzgerald@sng.com

UITA:
Judy Young
T) 801.568.3500
E) jyoung@uita.org

Utah House of Representatives
Kate Bradshaw
T) 801.538.1936


| 2/15/2005 1:20:07 PM | 0 Comments

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