Utah's Top Ten Tech Accomplishments / Events in 2005

Usually, about this time of year, I post my top 10 list related to IT accomplishments / events in Utah state government. Here's my list for 2005:

1. Utah State Legislature passes HB109 to consolidate all IT resources in the state. (March)
   
2. Governor Jon Huntsman selects Stephen Fletcher (CIO of the U.S. Department of Education) as the new Utah CIO. (May)
   
3. Utah is awarded first place by Brown University in e-government. (September)
   
4. 1,000,000 vehicle license renewals completed online. (August 1st)
5. State Construction Registry completed. (March)
6. Utah Legislature website is recognized as the top legislature website in the country by NCSL.
   
7. Salt Lake City and Ogden place in the top 10 in the Digital Cities rating. Utah County is selected among the top 10 in Digital Counties.
8. State of Utah completes an overall assessment of IT resources and architecture in preparation for statewide consolidation. (June)
9. 73 stations added to Utah's new On-the-Spot vehicle registration service following its launch in the Summer of 2005.
10. Network reliability and redundance enhancements. ITS worked closely with UEN to enhance the overal performance of the State's network. An additional path to the internet through St. George was added and a 2.5 Gb connection between the Salt Lake and Richfield data centers was completed.
    

Last year's top 10

IT Bills and Issues for the Upcoming Utah Legislative Session

Carlos Guadian has added a podcast to his blog. Carlos is an egov evangelist from Barcelona.

Several bills of interest for the upcoming Utah legislative session:

• Digital State Library
• GRAMA amendments
• Uninsured Motorist Database
• Licensing Information System
• Protected Records
• DTS Supplemental Appropriation
• Utah Technology Industry Council
• Electronic Meetings
• Repeal of Digital Signature Act

The Key Issues summary contains several IT-related issues.

Pages 112-131 of the Analyst's budget compendium contain information on the DTS budget.

Pages 14-15 of this document contain IT performance measures used in 8 different states.

New Mexico is building a spaceport.

Salt Lake and Ogden Among Top Digital Cities

Two Utah cities were recognized among the top 10 in their digital cities category, Salt Lake City and Ogden. Salt Lake City came in 10th among cities from 125,000 to 249,999 and Ogden ranked third among cities from 75,000 to 124,999. Good job. The ranking is performed by the Center for Digital Government.

Salt Lake City is implementing a new enterprise GIS-based hydraulic monitoring system. Sounds pretty interesting.

Angus Reid evaluates the popularity of governors in all fifty states. Governor Huntsman of Utah is among the top five with a lofty 73% approval rating.

Ben Kuo has a new site called TechRockies covering high tech news in the Rocky Mountain region. They've created this Googlemaps mashup of recent venture funding primarily in Colorado and Utah.