Nebraska's New Services Provide Greater Digital Democracy

Nebraska's official Web site now offers automatic notifications of official events as well as the ability to track and provide comments on proposed rules and regulations over the Internet.

Gov. Mike Johanns welcomed the latest innovations.

"These changes will make it easier for citizens to keep informed of important meetings, hearings and other agency activities that may affect them," said Johanns. "We are using technology to bring government closer to the people and provide instant access to information 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

The official meeting and event notification service is an enhancement to the state's public meeting calendar that has been available online since 1999. The new nebAnnounce feature notifies the user via e-mail when public meetings are entered, updated or deleted from the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar. Users can register for automatic notifications by providing a valid e-mail address and creating a profile of agencies to be tracked. More than 77 agencies are currently using the system, which was funded by a grant from the Nebraska State Records Board.

Nebraska's new online rule and regulation tracking and public comment system provides citizens and businesses with an easy way to participate in the democratic process. State agencies must provide an opportunity for public comment on proposed rules and regulations. The new service will allow citizens to post online comments to proposed regulations.

Rules and regulations must also be reviewed by the attorney general's office and approved by the governor before going into effect. The tracking service will allow citizens to track rules as they go through this adoption process.

Secretary of State John Gale said, "We place a high priority on involving Nebraskans in the governing process, and Nebrask@ Online is providing an easy way for citizens and businesses to monitor and comment on issues that are important to them from anywhere in the state."

These enhancements are part of an aggressive expansion program for Nebrask@ Online. In the past six months, Nebraska's state portal has launched the following new services:

• Online access to court records for 185 of 186 county and district courts in Nebraska;
  
• Electronic professional license renewals issued by Health and Human Services;
  
• An E-Granting system for the Nebraska Arts Council that allows online grant application submissions;
  
• An online contractor tax exemption application for the Department of Revenue; and
  
• Unique Web portals for citizens and state employees to complement Nebraska's existing portals for the business and education communities.
  

Chief Information Officer Steve Schafer said, "Nebraskans are embracing the Internet as a faster and easier way to interact with state government. We're excited about the latest series of applications available at Nebrask@ Online and are eager to introduce several new services in the near future."