Hawaii a fairly easy
place to buy online

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

Hawaii ranks in the top 10 when it comes to state governments that support e-commerce, such as buying wine, cars or contact lenses via the Internet, according to a new report.

"This ranking demonstrates that our efforts are paying off," Gov. Ben Cayetano, said.

The Washington, D.C.-based Progressive Policy Institute, which advocates an aggressive philosophy of government adapted for this computerized information age, listed Oregon as the state most friendly to Internet users.

Hawaii was tied at seventh with Idaho, and ranked behind Utah, Indiana, Louisiana, Iowa and Alaska.

South Carolina and New Mexico scored the lowest among the 50 states.

"This report does not intend to imply that Oregon, or any other high-scoring state, does not have room for improvement, but does suggest that relative to other states, consumers in these states have more choices, and in many cases pay lower costs to engage in e-commerce," said authors Robert D. Atkinson and Thomas G. Wilhelm.

The institute ranked each state in 10 categories of electronic commerce based on how well residents are able to buy goods and services online, including services provided by state government.

The more they could do so, the higher the state's score.

Cayetano, in announcing the ranking yesterday, credited certain legislators who two years ago pushed through "new economy" legislation that offered incentives to provide more customer-oriented, technology based government.

One of them, state Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa), said Hawaii has made significant progress in integrating technology into the lives of residents, but it can improve.

For example, the institute said because states hold many of the tax and regulatory powers over commerce, they can make it easier and cheaper for residents to engage in e-commerce and e-government.

Those ways include avoiding "protectionist" regulation designed to protect the middlemen and artificially inflate prices. States should also use digital technology to transform bureaucratic government into customer-centered government. And they should eliminate taxes on Internet access, it said.