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By the Center for Digital Government

Governor George Pataki unveiled New York's new, user-friendly home page and common statewide banner that will provide better access to government information and services on the Internet.

The new site marks a milestone in the governor's e-government initiative, launched last June to provide a government with "no walls." The New York State Office for Technology partnered with AMS on the design of the portal and banner.

"Our state is committed to taking full advantage of new technologies and the boundless opportunities provided by the Internet to make our government more accessible and responsive to the needs of New Yorkers," Governor Pataki said. "Today's announcement shows that our administration is fully embracing the era of e-commerce and e-government, and demonstrates our commitment to providing state services and transactions more effectively and efficiently."

The state's new portal is designed to provide much broader access to state government, while making it easier and more convenient for citizens to access government services. The Web site will provide access to services and information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A common Web banner has been added to all state pages to provide easy access to information by topic, geographic location, word search, or state agency.

The banner contains several entryways to New York state government information, services, and transactions. Features include a doorway for doing business with the state, along with forms that may be downloaded; citizen-services with online transactions and access to information about government throughout the state.

The New York portal also includes a listing of state links, including a unique link to the state's "do not call" registry. Sponsored by the New York State Consumer Protection Board, the registry allows citizens to pre-register for removal from telemarketer's call lists. A result of legislation passed October 2000, once an individual registers with the board, telemarketing firms have 30 days to remove the citizen from their call lists. The law will take effect April 1, and the board is now accepting pre-registration.

Services and transactions already available online include motor vehicle re-registration, ordering custom license plates, filing state income taxes, obtaining environmental permits, and applying for higher education assistance. The state offers over 146 services and transactions online with more than 400 planned for roll out in the future.