Among the many bills passed by Congress as it prepared to adjourn was the E-Government Act of 2002, designed to promote federal initiatives on the Web.
The legislation, passed by both the House and Senate November 15, funds an e-government department in the Office of Management and Budget, creates a board to assess technologies to foster cooperation among government agencies, and establishes a program to evaluate and fund new antiterrorism technologies, the Washington Post reported November 15.
The bill differs in several respects from the one passed by the Senate in June, which provided nearly twice as much funding for the e-government office and mandated Senate approval of the office’s director. It also contains language from the Digital Tech Corps Act, including a measure requiring the Library of Congress to work with other federal agencies and the private sector to establish an online national library.
Posted November 25, 2002.