Workshop: State and Local Governments: Toolkits and Best Practices

Sep
01
2009

Workshop: State and Local Governments: Toolkits and Best Practices

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT
Washington, DC
The goal of this workshop is to learn from the experiences of state and local governments that have proactively addressed broadband deployment and adoption issues in their communities. The workshop will focus on alternative approaches and challenges facing government officials (e.g., state or city CIOs) throughout the development and implementation of broadband policy. The workshop will consist of two ninety-minute panels, the first of which will address state-level concerns and the second of which will address municipal and county level concerns. Workshop participants on both panels will discuss the range of issues that policymakers face including: identifying gaps in existing broadband policy, developing necessary infrastructure, securing support from key stakeholders, encouraging adoption, funding broadband initiatives and evaluating the effectiveness of enacted policies. The workshop will also consider the types of resources that are available to government officials or would be helpful to have available when creating broadband policy. Information and data obtained in this workshop will enhance the Commission’s understanding of best practices and the challenges state and local governments face in expanding broadband access and adoption and will be considered as the Commission develops the National Broadband Plan.

Webcast

Topics

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. If you would like to discuss any other topics, please send us your suggestions.
  • Starting from zero, where should a city or state begin when formulating broadband policy?
  • Are there certain policy elements that should be included in any comprehensive local broadband policy?
  • How to identify and address community-specific broadband needs
  • What are the hardest issues? What aspects were easier than expected?
  • How much of the local approach is policy vs. legislation vs. execution?
  • Balancing divergent interests among community stakeholders
  • What types of alternative broadband network structures/mechanisms have been proven to work and in what context?
  • How can programs be measured over-time?
  • Given the speed with which technology changes, how can policies be structured to ensure that they evolve in response to changes in community needs?
  • What can the FCC do to foster cooperation and sharing of information or best practices among state and local governments?

Agenda

2:00 pm Workshop Introduction, Lauren Kravetz, Moderator
 
2:05 pm Panel 1: Statewide Efforts
  • Panelist Presentations
  • Commissioner Ray Baum, Oregon Public Utilities Commission 
  • John Conley, Deputy State Chief Information Officer, State of Colorado 
  • Charles Ghini, Director, Department of Management Services, Division of Telecommunications, State of Florida 
  • Karen Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Technology, Commonwealth of Virginia
  • Dr. Craig Orgeron, Director, Strategic Services Division, Department of Information Technology Services, State of Mississippi 
  • Jane Patterson, Executive Director, e-NC Authority, State of North Carolina

2:35 pm Panelist Discussion and Responses to Questions

3:35 pm Break
 
3:45 pm Panel 2: City/Local Efforts
  • Introduction, Moderator 
3:50 pm Panelist Presentations
  • Hardik Bhatt, Chief Information Officer, City of Chicago, and Commissioner, Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology
  • Commissioner Paul Cosgrave, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, City of New York
  • Joey Durel, City-Parish President, Lafayette, LA
  • Gary Gordier, Chief Information Officer and IT Director, El Paso, TX
  • Lori Sherwood, Cable Administrator, Howard County, MD
  • Chris Vein, Chief Information Officer, City of San Francisco
4:15 pm Panelist Discussion and Responses to Questions
 
5:15 pm Closing Statement, Moderator
 
5:20 pm Adjournment

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