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Hawaii among worst
for government
via the Web

But the state fares better
in access for disabled

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii could make its Web site more user-friendly by offering more online services and helping people do business by computer, according to a study of more than 1,800 federal and state Web sites.

Hawaii was tied with three other states at 42 -- nearly at the bottom among the states -- in a study conducted by Brown University in June and July. Texas ranked No. 1 and Rhode Island, last.

The White House ranked near the bottom among federal agencies. The highest was the Consumer Product Safety Council, while the lowest was the National Security Council.

"In general, smaller states like Hawaii ranked low because they were unable to spread the cost of technology over a much larger base," said Darrell M. West, the Brown University political science professor who led the study.

"States with small populations or small economics appeared to have difficulty in achieving the economies of scale necessary to implement technology initiatives," he said.

Texas led all states by offering online 51 percent of such customer features as government publications and forms, databases, services and disability access. Hawaii only had 35 percent of those features.

While the state mean was 18 percent in the area of providing online services, Hawaii had offered only 5 percent.

West said Hawaii needs to offer more online services, such as allowing taxpayers to file online or being able to register their vehicles or apply for hunting, fishing and other such licenses.

Only seven states offered vehicle registration online -- a service not currently available in Hawaii.

Extremely well

The area where Hawaii did extremely well, West said, was in providing access for the disabled.

The Brown researchers rated sites on whether they gave citizens clear information on how to contact government offices, online services such as vehicle registration or searchable records, access for citizens with disabilities or limited English, and policies to protect security and privacy.

Overall, the researchers said the federal government generally is more advanced than the states, with many more federal sites having databases and offering services compared to states. Only 39 percent of state sites offered a database of any kind, compared with 94 percent of federal sites.

The full report can viewed on the web at http://www.InsidePolitics.org.

GOVERNMENT ONLINE State Web sites ranked by services, databases, information, design and other criteria by Brown University researchers: THE BEST THE WORST 1. Texas 40.(tie) Georgia 2.(tie) Minnesota 40.(tie) Montana 2.(tie) New York 42.(tie) Colorado 2.(tie) Pennsylvania 42.(tie) Hawaii 5. Illinois 42.(tie) Nebraska 6.(tie) Kansas 42.(tie) Vermont 6.(tie) North Dakota 46.(tie) Nevada 8.(tie) Florida 46.(tie) South Dakota 8.(tie) Missouri 48. New Hampshire 8.(tie) Oregon 49. Delaware 50. Rhode Island