45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

REQUESTING THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, THE STATE LIBRARIAN AND THE SECRETARY OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO WORK TOGETHER WITH THE NAVAJO NATION AND OTHER TRIBES TO SEE WHAT THE STATE CAN DO TO HELP EXTEND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO INDIAN COUNTRY.

WHEREAS, the United States is fully engaged in the information era; and

WHEREAS, without access to information technology such as computers and related equipment, high-speed transmission infrastructure, electricity and other tools of the information age, people will not be able to reap the benefits of that technology; and

WHEREAS, many Indian tribes still lack simple technology that most people in the United States and other industrialized, first-world countries take for granted; and

WHEREAS, large areas of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico do not have electricity extended to remote homes, and there is no telephone service, running water or indoor plumbing in those homes; and

WHEREAS, computers can bridge distance gaps and bring a distant and foreign world into a person's home, wherever that person may live, but only if there is the infrastructure to facilitate access to the required technology; and

WHEREAS, commercial possibilities through the internet and email are limited only by a person's imagination or their access to technology; and

WHEREAS, communication for emergency management and medical services can occur quickly if the infrastructure is in place, allowing people located in remote locations to communicate or receive information quickly over long distances;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the chief information officer, the state librarian and the secretary of public safety work with tribal governments and tribal agencies to assure that information technology infrastructure is made available to every person in every tribal community in New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that no person in the state of New Mexico shall be left behind in the information age, and that no part of the state shall remain incapable of accessing technology if the people located there want that access.