I’m Just a Bill – Technology, the Legislature, and JA World
The June 21st meeting of the South Florida Technology Alliance (SFTA) was held at Junior Achievement World (JA World) Huizenga Center at Broward College in Coconut Creek, FL. An acclaimed experiential learning center, JA World was designed to let students explore the world of work, free enterprise and their possibilities for success in it. When my son was in 5th grade, he went through the JA World program and loved it. He and his classmates had to complete 20 hours of in-class training before being allowed to participate in the all-day event where they:
Entered a mini-city, supported by trained instructors, where they took full responsibility for roles as proprietors, civic leaders and consumers.
Operated and patronized businesses such as a newspaper, radio station, television station, bank, electric company, restaurant, real estate firm, professional offices, governmental offices and others.
Attempted to fulfill the goal of satisfying their customers, paying-off their business loans and realizing a profit at the conclusion of the business day.
Teamwork, leadership, punctuality, and other skills were reinforced throughout the program.
JA World was a fitting meeting place for the June SFTA meeting which was to serve as an update on technology related bills being reviewed by the Florida Legislature, since the skills of leadership and teamwork taught at JA World are a vital part of a successful legislature. The meeting started with a presentation from The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. Their goals are to lead Broward County in building a stronger and more diversified economy by:
Promoting increased public/private sector collaboration
Delivering business development initiatives focused on new investment and job growth
Enhancing the competitiveness of Broward's business climate
Driving regional initiatives
All are great goals. I was especially impressed and interested in their presentation on how funds were available to cover half of your employee training (or retraining) expenses. I was told that the program, managed by Work Force One, a Broward County organization funded by state and federal dollars, approves almost all of the funding requests they receive.
A little over one hundred people had turned out for this meeting. The Florida legislative update portion was opened by Lonnie Maier, Enterprise Sales Manager, FPL FiberNet.
The four topic/areas addressed by the panel were:
Education — Several bills in the Senate (S 1314, S 1402, S 1368 & S 1366) that would increase digital learning, on-line education, high tech workforce development, and place added emphasis on STEM courses.
State Procurement — Bills S 1498 & H1215 proposed a major overhaul of the State’s IT operations, creating a new Agency for State Technology with responsibility for State IT operations, and establishing a Chief Information Officer.
Broadband — Bills to transfer all responsibility for state broadband development to the Dept. of Economic Development (H 945 & S 1242) moved rapidly through committees. Concerns have been raised.
Driverless Vehicles (proposed by Google) — CS/HB 1208
We actually ran out of time and did not get to the Driverless Vehicles topic, in part because many were eager to get home to watch the Miami HEAT game. That said, the first three topics resulted in much discussion, and there was also an extended conversation on Internet commerce taxation. The five person panel shared words of advice, optimism and pessimism. Their participation was appreciated. The panelists were:
Jeanine Gendron, Director, Instructional Technology, Broward School District
David Armstrong, President, Broward College
Terry Kester, Chief Information Officer, Department of Financial Services, State of Florida
Brian Cunningham, Managing Director State & Local Government & Education, Citrix Systems, Inc.
Faith Gorman, Director of the State and Local Tax Practice, Daszkal Bolton, LLP
Sometimes I am discouraged by the present state of things (the economy and political demagoguery). However, I came away from this meeting with an optimistic outlook. If we, as a community/society, can put together and successfully maintain programs like JA World (which is privately funded and staffed primarily by volunteers), and implement useful and effective public/private funding initiatives like the work force training program, and, if one hundred people (and five panelists) can come out on a hot Thursday summer night to attend a Florida legislative update meeting (and risk missing part of the NBA Thunder vs Heat game), well, that is evidence of people working together and taking a constructive interest in public and private sector activities. Now, if only we could create a JA World learning environment for local, state and federal government...
