Governors Tout State Web Sites

The best and brightest (read: newest) of electronic government portals and services in the states are highlighted in a new online report by the Washington-based National Governors' Association.The "States on the Internet" report, available at the association's Web site (www.nga.org), provides descriptions and links to innovative services and applications in such areas as business assistance, welfare, agriculture and taxation. Government and industry officials who want to examine a variety of e-government projects can find examples from many states, and go immediately to the Web site to test drive the application.While many government Web sites began as "brochureware" that often were more useful to political scientists and policy analysts than to citizens, states now are making their Web sites interactive and tailored to helping citizens and businesses, the report said.