E-Government capabilities improving, study says.

• Position: News & Numbers

Seventy-three percent of state and federal government Web sites now have fully executable services--up from 56 percent in 2004--according to the latest installment of State and Federal E-Government in the United States, a report by Darrell M. West of Brown University's Taubman Center for Public Policy.

For the last six years, West and his team of researchers have studied the features available online through state and federal government sites. This year, the team analyzed a total of 1,620 sites--1,559 state government Web sites, 48 federal legislative and executive sites, and 13 federal court sites. Web sites are evaluated for the presence of features such as online publications, online databases, audio clips, video clips, foreign language translation, user payments or fees, disability access, credit card payments, e-mail addresses, comment forms, and readability, among others.

The highest-ranking states include Utah, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee, Delaware, and Massachusetts. The lowest-ranking state is Wyoming.

The highest-ranking federal Web sites include the White House, the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security Administration, and the departments of State, Treasury, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development.

At the low end of the ratings are the various circuit courts of appeals.

Key findings from the report include the following:

* Forty-four percent...