Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
August 11, 1999, Wednesday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A8
LENGTH: 552 words
HEADLINE:
GOVERNORS WILL STRESS THEIR ROLE AS "VOICE FOR THE STATES";
NEW LEADER PLANS
MEETING WITH SENATORS TO DISCUSS BALANCE OF POWER
BYLINE: Kim Bell; Of The Post-Dispatch
BODY:
The nation's governors said Tuesday
they plan to gather in Washington with the 100 U.S. senators to talk about the
balance of power.
"We have a serious responsibility to protect the
people as a counterbalance to the federal government," said Utah Gov. Michael
Leavitt, the new chairman of the National Governors' Association. "Governors are
the most visible and viable voice for the states, and they must be at the table
as critical issues are debated and decided in Washington."
Leavitt
announced plans for the meeting at the end of a four-day conference of the
governors' group, held at the Adam's Mark here.
Meanwhile, resolutions
passed by the governors told Congress not to raid state treasuries to pay for
federal tax cuts; to move fast to help struggling farmers; and to loosen
restrictions on using welfare-to-work funding.
The meeting in Washington
between governors and U.S. senators would be in February, followed by chats with
members of the U.S. House. It would be strongly symbolic of the states'
importance in a global economy, Leavitt said.
In taking over as
chairman, Leavitt, a Republican, said he will focus on "strengthening the
American state in the new global economy." Challenges brought by the Internet,
he said, are remarkable, and states have to make sure they don't lose control.
"The force of technology and globalization will be the greatest historic
reshaping of government that we have ever experienced," he said. "There will be
more change in the next decade than you have seen during the Progressive Era and
the Industrial Revolution combined."
Adapting to the rate of change,
Leavitt said, "will be the most demanding challenge that states as institutions
... may ever face." He and Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening want to protect
the local tax base without hurting Internet trade or "killing prosperity."
The Internet Tax Freedom Act, passed last year, places a three-year ban
on Internet sales taxes. Leavitt talked about the concern that
the Internet robs states of sales taxes.
In Utah alone, the state reportedly has estimated it could lose $ 10
million in unregulated Internet sales tax by 2002.
If
e-commerce on the Internet is not taxed, the National
Association of Counties recently claimed, the annual loss to local governments
could be $ 50 billion in six years.
Leavitt said the Internet can help
streamline problems such as when a financial services company that operates
nationwide has a tangle of paperwork to wade through to get licensed in each
state, Leavitt said.
"In 50 different states, you'll find there are 50
different forms, 50 different styles, 50 different bureaucracies, and ... that
creates an enormous hardship on people who are doing business on a national and
maybe global basis," Leavitt said.
To rectify that, he suggests some
kind of central coordination site on the Internet where businesses can go to
find each state's requirements, while still giving states control over who
operates within their borders. Glendening, the new vice chairman of the
Governors' Association, offered examples of how Maryland has responded to the
Internet. A real estate license, he said, can be renewed electronically in his
states for pennies, compared to more than $ 4 a transaction in person at a state
office.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO
LOAD-DATE: August 11, 1999 
