HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2080

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The confluence of the Internet, the world wide web, mobile device development, and other technological advances have helped governments to enhance services without expending significant government funds.  However, government entities often do not have the resources or organizational culture to develop innovative solutions.  To address this shortfall, communities and government entities have increasingly collaborated to present events, typically lasting as short as a weekend to as long as a month, where software developers compete for prizes by creating proofs of concept to address a specified challenge.  These events, known as hackathons, often lead to the discovery of new ways to leverage existing government platforms into expanded services for the public.

     In 2016, Governor David Ige and the office of enterprise technology services held the inaugural Hawaii annual code challenge (HACC) to engage the local technology community to help modernize state government.  The challenge gathered local talent to develop modern tools and software applications to provide enhanced government services to the public.  The event also provided opportunities for students to network and present their skills to the public and private-sector professional communities, while allowing government departments to showcase their open datasets, present their current challenges, and request potential solutions.  Through this collaborative environment, members of the public interacted directly with government resources and subject matter experts to help create innovative solutions and drive civic engagement.

     The inaugural HACC in 2016 drew more than two hundred fifty participants who developed several highly regarded proofs of concept.  State departments and other organizations made challenge pitches to the attendees, who formed teams to pitch potential solutions.  For example, to solve the problem of managing visitors to correctional facilities, teams created a visitation software application for the department of public safety to use at the Oahu community correctional facility.  Similarly, in response to a request from the Institute for Human Services, participants created a software application to aid social workers in collecting point-in-time information at homeless encampments.  The department of agriculture also benefitted from a team's development of a website to gather data on locally grown produce, allowing data to be crowdsourced.

     At the second annual HACC in 2017, more than three hundred community participants formed twenty teams to create even more promising software applications.  One team created an online tool to help the office of elections schedule volunteers during the busy election season.  Another team created a software application to crowdsource the mapping of buildings to assist the University of Hawaii to geotag campus buildings.  Finally, a team created an Alexa skill to allow individuals to interface with the Hawaii Revised Statutes with verbal commands.

     The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for grants to software application challenge participants so that the proofs of concept created during the challenges can be developed into prototypes.

     SECTION 2.  (a)  The Hawaii technology development corporation shall:

     (1)  Use the funds appropriated by this Act, along with any matching funds, to award grants to help convert proofs of concept developed in Hawaii during software application challenges into prototypes suitable for local and state government use;

     (2)  Seek donations from corporate, philanthropic, and other nongovernment sources; provided that moneys from donations shall account for not less than twenty-five per cent of moneys expended on a project-by-project basis;

     (3)  Require that all software applications that are the subject of any grant awarded be made open source so that anyone may use those applications free of charge based upon open source licensing;

     (4)  Require that any participant in a software application challenge is eligible to apply for a grant;

     (5)  Appoint a review committee to review grant applications pursuant to subsection (b) and award grants subject to available funding; and

     (6)  Submit a report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2019 on the:

          (A)  Number and dollar amounts of grants awarded; and

          (B)  Progress of any software applications developed.

     (b)  A participant applying for a grant under this Act shall submit a grant application on a form prescribed by the Hawaii technology development corporation.  The grant application shall:

     (1)  Require an overview of the software application and how continued development of that application will impact the State and the pitching agency's ability to service the community;

     (2)  Require the applicant to present an adoption plan for the software application, including critical success factors and how that application will sustain itself over time;

     (3)  Provide major budget components for the software application's development; and

     (4)  State the outcomes the applicant expects to achieve if awarded a grant.

     (c)  The Hawaii technology development corporation may expend some of the funds appropriated by this Act to support application challenge events, manage the prototype implementation process, and execute an adoption plan for the project, including marketing, outreach, and communications.

     (d)  No funds appropriated by this Act may be awarded as a prize for any software application challenge.

     (e)  For the purposes of this Act:

     "Open source" means a software application whose source code is available to the general public, under the terms of a software license, for use or modification from its original design.

     "Pitching agency" means a state or county agency that challenges software application challenge participants to create software applications.

     "Proof of concept" means a software application that serves as a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility or to verify that the method or idea has practical potential.

     "Prototype" means a software application that possesses enough function that it may be tested or utilized by the pitching agency.

     "Software application" means the applications or apps that result from the software application challenges, including but not limited to the broad categories of web apps, mobile apps, computing devices, sensors, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

     "Software application challenge" generally refers to events that bring teams together to collaborate and innovate solutions for a given theme or problem set.

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the purposes set forth in section 2 of this Act.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the Hawaii technology development corporation for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2112.


 


 

Report Title:

Technology; Software Application Challenges; Grants; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for grants to participants in software application challenges so that the proofs of concept created during the challenges can be developed into prototypes suitable for local and state government.  Appropriates funds.  Requires matching funds.  Takes effect on 7/1/2112.  (SD1)

 

 

 

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