A new American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bill, the Electronic Government Services Act, has shown up in eleven states, and is close to passage in Ohio, where it has been included in a budget bill. This bill would, among other things, prohibit states from duplicating electronic information services offered by two or more private companies. This would include information that is currently available for free on government websites, even if the private companies charge for the same information. The types of information affected could range from details about a state park or festival (do you really want to have to pay a travel agent to book you a camping site?) to environmental regulations, emissions data, toxic release inventories, court opinions, and many other important public records. Simply put, public records should be publicly available to everyone. States should not be restricted from posting their own records and information on their own websites. Consistent with their pro-corporate ideology, ALEC is promoting this bill, which would effectively increase the "privatization" of public information and restrict access. Watch out for this Trojan Horse bill in your state.

Ran 4/28/2003