Among the projects to be funded is expansion of school technology systems. The bill clarifies existing law so that any California retailer will have to collect sales taxes to pay to the state on any transaction regardless of whether the transaction happens via mail order, telephone order or the Internet. The program's goal is to help bridge the digital divide for children who don't have access to computers. In metropolitan Atlanta, more than 70 percent of households own at least one computer. As of 1999, the national percentage of households with computers was only 50 percent, with one-third of them online.
Some students say the requirement is a financial burden.
A new grant will allow the state's Dept. of Education to set up 30 Community Technology Centers for adult education in rural sites across the state over the next three years. We also hope to help bridge the digital divide for individuals without the ability to access technology. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced in June that the public can obtain information about corporations and becoming incorporated online at the secretary of state's Web site . Gov. Joe Kernan, board chairman of the state's new 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, went to Purdue University in June to present the first grant from the fund. Iowa The governor's Strategic Planning Council released a report in June that lists the ways Iowa can reach its No. 1 goal of encouraging more people to live in the state by the year 2010.