Thursday, May 16, 2002

Bill Formalizing Online Training Stalls in Arizona Legislature By DAN CARNEVALE Fiscal problems in Arizona may derail a bill that would help a state employee-training organization expand its online-education program. The bill would make an unofficial organization into a formal state entity. The organization, Arizona Government University, currently offers traditional and online courses to train state employees in subjects such as management, supervising, and ethics. The training resource was created in January 2001 through cooperation between state agencies and with the backing of Gov. Jane Dee Hull, a Republican. The university is not an accredited institution, but it develops its own training courses with some help from state community colleges. The virtual institution Western Governors University provides a Web presence for the Arizona organization so state employees can locate and enroll in the courses. Nancy Stelter, director of the Arizona Government University, says she wants the state Legislature to make the university an official state entity so it can raise money from local governments and create more online courses. The bill would do just that, she says. "The bill is going to give us the ability to collect and expend funds," she says. The bill has cleared appropriate committees in the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives. But it has stalled in the Committee on Rules in both legislative chambers. A source in the Arizona Senate says the bill is probably not going to reach final legislative approval this year. Senators are worried that state agencies will have to use money from their individual budgets to pay for the training, the source says. The estimated cost for all state agencies to pay for their employees' training is $1.2-million next year. The state budget is already in a $1-billion hole and can't sustain further spending, the source says. But Ms. Stelter says the state agencies already found enough money in their budgets to pay for the university last year. Passing the bill to recognize the university won't put any additional strain on the budget. "It will cost the same amount as it did last year," she says. With the legislative session winding down, Ms. Stelter says there are few days left to rally support for the bill. But she will keep trying to convince the lawmakers to pass it. "It's not one of the high priorities right now with all the fiscal problems," she says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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