COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Legislature is wrestling with a bill that would limit the kinds of services offered on the state government's Web site.

Nearly identical to model legislation proposed by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in five other states, a provision of Ohio's H.B. 95 (the state's budget bill) would restrict the kinds of electronic commerce activities that state and local governments offer.

Stifling Electronic Government
The possibility that Ohio's e-government efforts could be stifled has state CIO Greg Jackson very concerned.

"Government should have the option of using as many service delivery channels as possible to meet the needs of the citizenry -- be it paper, web, phone, or wireless," he said. "The philosophy used to generate this legislation purports to take us back to the days of feather quills and ink wells."

Morgan Long, director of ALEC's Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force, doesn't agree.

Although the bill has been introduced in five states and failed to pass in any of them, she said she thinks it's just a matter of time and persistence. Long said the concern that government is competing with industry is valid and based on numerous experiences.

In Ohio alone, she said, there are 80 local governments providing Internet, broadband or cable service in markets already served by the private sector.

"In other cases across the country there are over 200 municipalities providing telecom services," she said. "Across the country, local communities are getting into the business of telecom."

But some Ohio government officials feel the bill is too encompassing.

"What about our state parks?" asked Gil Ashbridge, CIO of the Ohio Department of Taxation. "There are so many questions and not very many answers. I think it [the bill] is too broad."

Since travel agencies and private companies provide information and reservations for camping facilities, Ashbridge is concerned that the state could no longer offer those services on its portal.

The area of taxation, however, has been the "hot potato" in the Internet services debate.

"This is the fourth year we have put I-File out on the Internet," Ashbridge said. "Are we truly competing with Intuit and others?"

He said he also questioned if the proposed rule would apply to office transactions.

"For years, in partnership with the IRS, we have provided in-person assistance," he said. "And, according to this bill, we couldn't continue to do that."

Intuit, home of QuickBooks and TurboTax, is a strong supporter of the ALEC bill.

Mississippi CIO David Litchliter said the attempt to pass the same bill in his state inspired more questions than answers.

"We had questions from the universities," he said. "We offer courses online and there are all kinds of other places that also offer courses. Does that mean we are in competition and have to stop that?"

Litchliter said the language of the bill is so vague it would cause ongoing debate about where it did and did not apply.

Bill Targets "Value Added Services"
Long said the legislation would not have such far-reaching effects.

"There is a misunderstanding about the bill," she said. "It doesn't prohibit any type of service being provided, it just provides for oversight. It's the value-added services and not those provided by government in person."

The bill calls for a seven-member State Controlling Board to provide oversight and approval of online commerce activities.

According to the Ohio bill, if there are two or more "competing privately owned companies" providing a particular electronic commerce service, the government may not offer a similar service.