As Jane may have told you, I left the Secretary of State – Arkansas Register. After more than 20 years working for the office and 15 years as the only “ruler” person, I have now accepted a job with the State Council of Election Commissioners. 2008 Robert J. Colborn, Jr. Innovation Award Winner: Arkansas Secretary of State, honored for creating a system for cataloguing and archiving rules and making rules available online. Presentation: Sunday, July 27, 2008 As for the updates of the register since 2008, there have been only a few. Probably the most important took place in 2013, when lawmakers passed a law allowing the registry to simply be an online publication and no longer be printed. Since the 1990s, the Arkansas registry only contained rule numbers, dates, and titles, so the printed copy didn`t really give the user any useful information. In 2003, the online version of the registry began to include links to the full version of the final rule. In 2007, the office launched the online web search tool and began adding rule tips and suggested rules. A few other web additions that come to mind: A bulk download has been added where a user can download ALL the rules of the database if he wishes, a link to the meeting calendar of the state agency has been added so that interested people can see all the meetings in a certain amount of time.
Background: Colborn Innovation Committee members received a nomination package from a CAB member who was aware of Mr. Davidson`s ongoing efforts to move the rules from a card catalog system to an online archiving system. Summary (available online under the ACR Bylaws) In 2003, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Bill 1478, which required arkansas rules to be published on the Secretary of State`s website. Less than 10 years earlier, the state had taken the step that the application of administrative rules should be managed in three-ring files and a card catalog system. The text of the first rule notice was published in the fall of 2003. Last summer, his office launched a search engine to help users find rules online. As we`ve all understood in the world of rule making, the web extension of rules improves the efficiency and accuracy of managing Secretary of State documents. The online publication of the rule-making activity opened up the entire process to those who may not have been aware of a rule-making action under the paper-based system. Last year, Jon also talked about revising the database to speed up the release of the rules. Jon Davidson Educational Services Manager State Board of Election Commissioners 501 Woodlane, Suite 401N 501-682-1856 2008 ACR Robert J.
Colborn Jr. Committee: Chair: Dennis Stevenson, Admin. Rules Coordinator, State of Idaho, Boise, Idaho, Ph.D. 208-332-1820 Member: Nancy Reddy, Kansas Registry Director, Kansas Secretary of State, Topeka, Kansas, Ph.D. 785-296-3489 Member: Judy Cooper, Manager, Administrative Law Division, West Virginia Sec. of State, Charleston, West Virginia, Ph.D. 304-558-6000 Please tell my former friends at the CAB that I miss them very much. And I wish them an excellent conference. The last thing in the works before I left was an email notification system that would notify a user that a proposed notification/rule had been submitted by a particular agency. Unfortunately, it wasn`t finished before I left, and I doubt it will be over this year. Committee Statement: Members of the Colborn Innovation Committee recognized Arkansas as a beneficiary of a number of factors, including Davidson`s efforts to modernize the filing system and provide more information to the public through a searchable online database.
2014 Where are they today? [Presented at the 2014 Winter Meeting] Jon Davidson accepts Dennis Stevenson`s Colborn Award (left) Editor Jon Davidson accepted the award on behalf of Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels` office of Dennis Stevenson, chairman of Colborn`s Innovation Committee.
