This New York State law allows state and local governments to use and accept electronic signatures. Without this act, the governor's signing of his eCommerce Initiative would not have been possible. This law also clarifies state and local government authority to use electronic records. The law allows contracting parties to decide which authentication method is most appropriate for their transaction. It appears that the federal law will have only limited effect, since it applies only to interstate and foreign commercial, consumer and business transactions conducted by private parties.
Sales taxes are approximately one fourth of all tax revenues raised by state and local governments.
This has been difficult to enforce, however, as it relies upon retailers to monitor their own compliance. State and local governments cannot alter their sales tax rates at the present time to address these problems. For the full text version of this policy, refer to the Office for Technology's website . This policy lists requirements for state agencies to follow when using the Internet. Local governments are encouraged to adopt these guidelines, although they are not required to do so.