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.