A legislative workshop on Pennsylvania GIS issues will be held at the State College Municipal Building in State College, PA on Thursday, beginning at 10AM. I'm not going to be able to attend, as I will be in Washington, DC for the day...
PaMAGIC GIS Legislation WORKSHOP
Thursday, November 10 from 10:00AM – 3:00PM
A variety of reference materials has been compiled and is posted on the PaMAGIC Website. http://www.pamagic.org/pamagic/cwp/view.asp?a=2043&q=514363Thursday, November 10 from 10:00AM – 3:00PM
Some additional documents were added to the website this morning, please include them in your preparations for the Workshop!
As GIS Stakeholders it is important that we understand the content and process of legislation concerned with GIS. Please take time to review the materials and join us tomorrow – or send comments to one of the Board Members (listed above).
State College Borough
Room 214
State College Municipal Building
243 South Allen Street
State College, PA
lunch (pizza) will be provided directions and a map here: http://www.statecollegepa.us/index.asp?NID=103.
Joyce Frigm and Dan Ruzansky, the Majority and Minority Executive Directors of the House Intergovernmental Relations Committee and Mike King from LORL, will attend to provide technical assistance.
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Update: Might be able to attend after all!
Posts
This did turn out to be a fruitful meeting, however things were a bit more dynamic and expected. The previous strawman bill that was circulated was summarily discarded right at the outset of the workshop.
The primary outcome resulted from a visit in the days just before this workshop to the North Carolina GIS Council to see them in action.
North Carolina has arguably one of the most evolved governance structures of the states- though not without their pitfalls, they provide an exemplary model, which Pennsylvania looks like it will begin to model itself after.
A framework, built somewhat on NC, was developed and agreed on, and
as follow-on tasks, some better language and definition will be crafted by the legislative folks in attendance.
There is yet much work to do, but the goal is to get a new bill before the legislature by the end of this year.