All state agencies must join Internet

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn has set a goal for every state agency to have a Web page and a presence on the Internet within 90 days.

Guinn and Marlene Lockard, director of the state Department of Information Services, outlined plans Wednesday for the state to allow more of its business to be conducted online.

"We've got a whole new world," Lockard told the state Board of Examiners, of which Guinn is chairman. "It is changing the way business is done."

In 1996 the state wasn't on the Internet, but in 1999 there were 47.7 million hits on the state page.

Guinn said there could be such Internet uses as applying for and receive hunting and fishing licenses, and work is under way to permit motorists to renew driver's licenses and vehicle registrations. That is expected to be ready by summer.

The initiative is called "Silver Source," and the governor will be issuing an executive order creating an e-government coordinating council consisting of members of the business community, technology experts and Lockard's agency.

Also Wednesday, the Examiners Board agreed to pay $299,500 in legal fees and court costs for a suit the state lost in federal court involving practices at the state prison in Ely. Lawyers for the ACLU contended correctional officers were too quick to spray prisoners with BB shot during any disturbance and that there were inadequate mental health services.

Prison officials said they were in the midst of changing the policies when the suit was filed.

ACLU lawyers for the inmates sought $500,000 in legal fees. The federal court awarded $374,370 and the attorney general's office negotiated that down to $299,500.

The board voted also to pay $30,000 to Margaret Woods, who was subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment while employed as a correctional officer in the state prison system in Ely from 1992 to 1996.