By Cuellar                                           H.C.R. No. 291

         75R16278 RNS-F                           

                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 1-1           WHEREAS, The State of Texas has a responsibility to provide

 1-2     current information and services to the citizens of the state, yet

 1-3     the access to these services and information is hindered by the

 1-4     delivery mechanisms used by the agencies of the state; and

 1-5           WHEREAS, Electronic access to systems offered by a variety of

 1-6     state agencies is available only to those citizens who own or have

 1-7     immediate access to personal computers networked to the World Wide

 1-8     Web or other electronic bulletin board systems and who have some

 1-9     knowledge of computers, while those citizens who do not have such

1-10     access or any computer knowledge are deprived of electronic access

1-11     to the information and services; and

1-12           WHEREAS, Electronic access allows for state services and

1-13     information to be updated immediately and made available to the

1-14     citizenry on a 24-hour, seven-days-per-week basis, which in turn

1-15     allows the citizens of Texas to receive services and information at

1-16     convenient times, before, during, or after normal state business

1-17     hours of operation; and

1-18           WHEREAS, Multimedia touchscreen kiosks have been utilized by

1-19     the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Agriculture Commission,

1-20     the General Land Office, the Texas Department of Health, the Social

1-21     Security Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization

1-22     Service, the Supreme Court of Arizona, and many other government

1-23     and private sector entities to provide electronic access to

1-24     information and services and have proven to be a cost-effective

 2-1     service delivery mechanism; and

 2-2           WHEREAS, Multimedia touchscreen kiosks can be located in

 2-3     communities of all sizes, in public locations such as grocery

 2-4     stores, malls, discount centers, libraries, and courthouses, and

 2-5     can provide electronic access to government services to those

 2-6     citizens who cannot or choose not to own or operate a networked

 2-7     personal computer; and

 2-8           WHEREAS, Multimedia touchscreen kiosks can offer services in

 2-9     a nonintimidating manner by an on-screen video host in a variety of

2-10     languages, including but not limited to, English and Spanish, and

2-11     can print forms and information in the language of choice while

2-12     allowing access to electronic information and services for people

2-13     with limited literacy and those citizens with no computer

2-14     knowledge; and

2-15           WHEREAS, Multimedia touchscreen kiosks can be securely

2-16     networked together and can electronically submit applications,

2-17     forms, purchases, and other information to computer systems across

2-18     the State of Texas, thus reducing the costs of service delivery by

2-19     reducing the amount of paper and forms that are printed and

2-20     distributed throughout the state, by reducing the amount of data

2-21     entry error, and by freeing state employees from mundane,

2-22     repetitive tasks, which allows the employees to provide more

2-23     focused, specialized services on an individual basis; now,

2-24     therefore, be it

2-25           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

2-26     hereby encourage every state agency to investigate and evaluate how

2-27     multimedia touchscreen kiosks can cost-effectively assist in their

 3-1     service delivery and build partnerships with other federal, state,

 3-2     and local governments, and private sector organizations to

 3-3     strategically apply multimedia touchscreen kiosks across Texas to

 3-4     increase the number of service delivery points, to increase the

 3-5     hours in which a citizen can receive state services and

 3-6     information, and to increase the accessibility of electronic

 3-7     information for all the citizens of the State of Texas regardless

 3-8     of financial standing, literacy, language, or computer knowledge;

 3-9     and, be it further

3-10           RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official

3-11     copy of this resolution to the executive director of each state

3-12     agency.