The ruling could have great implications, especially in light of the fact that The General Accounting Office (GAO) is preparing to sue Vice President Dick Cheney for information about the meetings of his energy task force.

Community Technology Centers (CTCs) are increasingly emerging around the country to provide low-income, minority, and other disenfranchised individuals free or low-cost public access to technology tools and services, including trainings that may enhance employment opportunities. Federally funded research has demonstrated CTCs to be an effective community-based model, and Congress appropriated $32.5 million in FY 2000 to support CTCs. The Clinton Administration has proposed increasing the budget for CTCs in FY 2001 to $100 million.

In the FY 2001 budget deal reached on Friday 12/15/00, the Community Technology Centers program under the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTC) received $65 million which will help create 650 CTCs in low-income rural and urban neighborhoods.

Gov. Bush states both on his website and in a campaign Fact Sheet: (PDF file) that he, "will invest $400 million to create and maintain more than 2,000 community technology centers every year. These centers are providing such services as free Internet access, computer literacy training, and professional skills development." Vice President Gore's , released yesterday, includes a goal of creating 2,000 Community Technology Centers in low-income neighborhoods by 2002, stating that CTCs provide hands-on training for children and adults lacking IT skills, "the people who need it most."