FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani
  
                          Remarks
  
At Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Latino Vote '99
                              
                      San Antonio, TX
                        May 21, 1999
                              
                 (as prepared for delivery)
  
  
     Good evening.  Buenas noches.  I am delighted and honored to join you
  in celebrating Southwest Voter Registration Education Project's 25th Anniversary
  and Latino Vote '99 Conference.  I'm particularly delighted because being here
  in San Antonio I am a little bit closer to my home state of New Mexico.  
  
     I believe it is very fitting that we celebrate SVREP's accomplishments -
  registering over 2,000,000 Latinos to vote; training organizers, young leaders
  and candidates to run for political office; successfully litigating voting right law
  suits; organizing getting out the vote drives throughout the Southwest you all
  know the history better than I.  And all these accomplishments the product of the
  vision of Willy Velazquez who recognized early on that Latinos in this country
  can only become empowered if they exercise their fundamental right to vote.  SU
  VOTO ES SU VOZ.
  
     Y QUE VOZ PODEROSA.  Indeed, it is truly remarkable that because of
  the phenomenal growth in Latino voter registration, particularly in states with
  large electoral blocks like California and Texas, the political pundits and the two
  main political parties have recognized that the Latino vote may determine who
  wins the year 2000 presidential election.  As Tim Chavez, in a Tennessee
  newspaper put it, "Hispanics are hotter than the green salsa at the neighborhood
  Mexican restaurant."  Imagine, we Latinos deciding whom the President for the
  new millennium will be.  QUE VOZ PODEROSA.  
  
     We need to be reminded, however, that this is not the first time that the
  presidential campaigns have taken notice of the power of the Hispanic vote. 
  Some of you may remember the Viva Kennedy campaign in the Southwest.  I
  was very young at the time, but I remember it because of my grandfather, the
  late U.S. Senator Dennis Chavez, who represented New Mexico for over 32
  years in the Congress until his death in 1962.  My grandfather was co-chairman,
  together with Henry B. Gonzalez of the Viva Kennedy Clubs.  He campaigned
  tirelessly through the valley here in Texas and in Southern California.  
  
  I am told he started in San Antonio and ended up in El Paso at a huge
  rally for Kennedy and Johnson.  My grandfather, accompanied by his wife
  Imelda, attended many rallies and events.  I am also told he campaigned just like
  he did in Northern New Mexico, taking time to visit with families at their homes
  and share some chile, beans and menudo.  And I've read that the Viva Kennedy
  Club's get out the vote effort proved critical to Kennedy's victory in Texas.  Some
  precincts in El Paso went 100% for Kennedy.  So, Latinos here in Texas already
  have left a huge mark in presidential elections.  And you are to be celebrated for
  your continued efforts in empowering Latinos through their right to vote.  
  
     While we are on the subject of voting, getting out the vote and registering
  voters, I'd like to briefly touch on the promise that the Internet holds in this area
  from my perspective as a Federal Communications Commissioner.  Many
  jurisdictions are already experimenting with both the concept of registering
  voters over the Internet, and actually casting votes on-line.  The efforts are still
  very embryonic because of many obstacles and concerns.  In most jurisdictions,
  voter registration requires a signature.  In many instances, electronic signatures
  are not sufficiently developed to satisfy the statutory signature requirements or
  statutes would have to be changed to permit electronic signatures.  As regards
  voting on-line, there are many concerns including developing appropriate
  verification procedures and the potential for voter fraud.  
  
  Despite the concerns, I can report that the Department of Defense is
  experimenting with five counties in seven states so that some military personnel
  stationed oversees can cast their votes electronically in the next presidential
  election.  I can also report that in 1997 Astronaut David Wolf, while whirling
  through space at 18,000 mph in the Russian space station Mir, was the first
  American to cast his vote over the Internet by laptop computer.  Now that's real
  absentee voting!
  
     Despite the obstacles, I am confident that on-line voting may become a
  reality in my lifetime.  Indeed, 43% of the respondents in a recent poll believe it
  is likely they would be voting electronically from their homes or offices within 20
  years.  I also believe the Internet is a vital new outlet for our democratic process. 
  It is a forum for promoting discussion of issues and campaigns.  And the Internet
  is also facilitating gathering information for candidates.
  
  I'd like to shift from the fundamental right to vote to another fundamental
  right.  A right that we Latinos recognize as critical to the future of our familias
  and our children   the right to an education.  SVREP 's exit polls in California
  and Texas in the 1998 election showed that Latinos identified education as key
  for determining their vote for governor.  And just as I learned about the
  importance of the vote from my grandfather, I learned from him the importance of
  education.
     
  Dennis Chavez was a wonderful person and he continues to be a great
  inspiration to me and many others.  You may not know that my grandfather had
  to leave school after the 7th grade to go to work to help his family.  He didn't go
  to high school or college, but educated himself by reading at the public library in
  Albuquerque.  He did go to law school later in his life by passing a special
  examination.  But because he lacked formal schooling, he placed a special value
  on education and books.  That's why he helped many New Mexicans go to law
  school in Washington, D.C. (that's when New Mexico had no law school) by
  finding them jobs so they could afford to go to school.  My favorite story that I've
  heard from some of those students is that my grandfather required them to show
  him their report cards on a regular basis!
  
       So I learned from my grandfather to value education, but I was also
  extremely fortunate to have excellent educational opportunities.  And it was
  those opportunities that paved the way for my success as a woman and Latina in
  the political and governmental world.  I could not be where I am today without an
  excellent education.
  
  But not everyone is so fortunate.  Not everyone, as we know much too
  well, has access to libraries or to excellent schools.  Not everyone has
  opportunities.  And our Latino community and our Latino children, despite
  notable progress, still lag too far behind in enjoying opportunities to excellence
  in education.  Latinos are still too far behind in access to this fundamental civil
  right.  The notion that education is a fundamental right is at least as old as our
  country.  Adam Smith described education in 1776 as a basic civil right,
  suggesting in The Wealth of Nations that a person "without the proper use of the
  intellectual faculties" was stunted in their human development.
  
  Today, our Latino youth is lagging behind in having access to the new and
  modern world of information provided through the Internet.  Latino families at
  most income levels are behind in ownership of computers and Internet access as
  compared to non-Latino white families.  According to Department of Commerce
  figures, the percentage of Latino households with computers is 19.4%, as
  compared to 40.8% for white non-Latino households.  The percentage of Latino
  households on-line is 8.7%, compared to 21.2% for white non-Latino
  households.
  
  That is why I am so proud of the work we have done at the Federal
  Communications Commission to close the gap for Latinos by connecting our
  schools and libraries, but particularly our neediest schools, to the information
  superhighway.  The FCC's schools and libraries program, better known as the e-
  rate, was designed to get all classrooms in America hooked up to the Internet. 
  In an ideal world, we would have funded all schools, but for political reasons we
  had to scale back the size of our program.  We then decided we had to fund the
  neediest schools first.  Because most of our Hispanic youth are enrolled in the
  neediest schools, our Hispanic youth will soon reap the benefits of the schools
  and libraries program.  I am happy to report that schools in states with significant
  numbers of Hispanic youth   such as Arizona, California, Illinois, Florida, New
  Mexico, New York, Texas, and Puerto Rico   received a total of nearly $729
  million dollars in e-rate funding.  And here in Texas, you received close to
  $129,000,000 million dollars in e-rate funding.
  
  But why is access to the Internet so important?  I am not an educator, but
  I can tell you that I see the Internet as many things.  It is the modern town plaza -
  - a place to do business; a place to communicate with family and friends.  It is
  this ever vast and limitless library.  As I've mentioned, it is a forum for the
  democratic process.  It is the modern tool for knowledge and communications. 
  All of our children, including our Latino children, must have equal access to this
  new world of information technology and information services so that they can
  succeed and be productive in the 21st century.  They cannot be denied this
  fundamental right.
  
  That's why I want to ask your help as the FCC sets the      e-rate funding levels
  for the next school year.  Next week, I will be voting for funding the e-rate at its
  cap of $2.25 billion dollars so that the more than 32,000 school districts, schools
  and libraries that have applied can continue to reap the benefits.  While many in
  the Congress strongly back the e-rate, there are some who would significantly
  scale back or do away with the program altogether.  If you believe it is good for
  all of our children, including our Latino children, to better prepare them for the
  next millennium, please make your voices heard with your elected
  representatives.  SU VOTO ES SU VOZ.
  
  On a final note, with the expansion of the Internet and its greater reach to our
  Latino children, we need to recognize the perils of the Internet.  As parents and
  as community leaders we need to ensure that our children are safe from
  criminals and predators on-line.  I was recently appointed Chair of the FCC's V-
  Chip Task Force.  The V-Chip is the term we use for the computer technology
  that parents can use to block television programs they feel are unsuitable for
  their children.  On July 1, half of all new TV sets will have the V-Chip and
  January 1, 2000 all TV sets will have V-Chips.  I encourage you to become
  acquainted with the V-Chip technology that will help us safeguard all of our
  children.
  
  Thank you for inviting me to be with you tonight.  Muchisimas gracias.