Improvements to a prescription drug database, reforms at the California Public Utilities Commission, checks on law enforcement surveillance. Those were just a few of the more than 100 bills state lawmakers introduced on a variety of topics on the first day of the 2017-18 session.
As the new Legislature for 2017-18 convenes Monday, the leaders of the California Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus hope to attract both veteran and newly elected members to its ranks. Nine new members will be sworn in to the Senate and 22 into the Assembly — representing diverse backgrounds from government, education and the private sector.
When Gov. Jerry Brown created a cybersecurity task force, he positioned California at the forefront of state efforts to protect sensitive information and critical infrastructure. Both the legislative and executive branches have expressed mutual concern that a security breach in California, the nation’s most populous state and seventh-largest economy in the world, could expose confidential information or disrupt essential services.
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Assemblymember Evan Low describes technology and innovation as second nature to him and his millennial generation. But that’s just not the case with many members of the Legislature. So the Silicon Valley Democrat partnered with Assemblymember Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, to form a venue where lawmakers could learn about technology and share ideas.
Her bill vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani is questioning whether California’s FI$Cal project will sideline future policy changes simply because it’s too costly to make programming changes.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a bill that requires a complete rebuild of Cal-Access into what supporters say will be a database where campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures are quick and easy to access.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a bill that would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to spend up to $1.5 million to expand the service to the 20 rural counties that don’t yet have it.
Researchers and policymakers in California could soon have comprehensive statistics on violent deaths, key information that could shape prevention efforts. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Tuesday to require the California Department of Public Health to create and manage a California Electronic Violent Death Reporting System, provided it has funding.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation intended to arm prosecutors with clear legal authority to go after criminals who illegally access and hold hostage a computer or network in exchange for payment.
A year after a scathing report described California’s information security as weak and vulnerable, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation intended to beef up state agency response standards. The Department of Technology has until July 2018 to craft incident response standards and update the state's Technology Recovery Plan, which hasn’t been updated in the last three years.
The move is intended to beef up California’s IT systems, under legislation signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown. The bill by Assemblymember Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, is expected to help the state identify its vulnerabilities and invest to protect state data from potential hackers.
With the election two months away, the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month announced a working group to help states confront cybersecurity risks to their election and voting systems.
A package of drone bills before Gov. Jerry Brown would require people who fly unmanned aerial vehicles to buy liability insurance, report hit-and-run accidents and keep away from emergency scenes. Whether Brown will sign any of the measures is questionable, given previous vetoes of drone restrictions.
It could be easier for the public to find information from local city meeting agendas to who contributed to their local senator’s campaign. Requests for birth records might soon be made online, and college students enrolling at some of California’s colleges could register online to vote.
In an era of burgeoning cybercrime, California lawmakers this year sent Gov. Jerry Brown a series of bills intended to bolster the state’s cybersecurity and craft response plans should an attack occur. The last day of California’s 2016 legislative session was Wednesday.
The Senate on Thursday unanimously voted to crack down on computer crimes that render computer systems unusable until a ransom is paid. By a 38-0 vote, lawmakers said such an attack should be considered extortion and prosecuted under the state criminal code as such. The bill, which won Assembly approval Tuesday, now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown.
The Legislature on Wednesday sent a bill to the governor that would require all state agencies to report their annual spending on cybersecurity, but Senate amendments give the administration until 2018 while it continues to work on mandated IT security assessments.
California could soon join a national effort to track violent deaths after lawmakers Tuesday approved legislation that calls for the creation of a statewide database.
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin this week amended legislation that would have required the Office of Emergency Services to complete a statewide response plan for cybersecurity threats on critical infrastructure. Instead, the Department of Technology will be tasked with crafting incident response standards, which each agency must incorporate to secure its own critical infrastructure controls and information.
SB 1444 also calls for agencies to establish procedures to facilitate communication between an incident response team, agency officials and individuals affected by a breach. State agencies hold the records of millions of Californians in their systems.
Lawmakers will not be voting these next final few weeks of California’s legislative session on a number of bills deemed too costly, including efforts to develop a statewide water information system, mandate a tracking system to log and track rape kits and create a statewide bonding program.
If the California Department of Transportation plans roadwork where conduit for fiber cables could be laid, it must notify broadband providers under legislation approved Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
With new policies and procedures in place, the departments of Veterans Affairs and Technology are moving forward with plans to bring electronic medical records to California’s eight veteran homes, hoping to put behind them the massive failure of the previous $28 million project that state auditors found wasted time and taxpayer dollars.
The Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management convened a two-hour hearing Wednesday to examine California’s move from its legacy 911 system, designed in 1980 for landline phones, to what is known as next-generation 911.
A $1.8 million appropriation for Cal-Access is tucked into the $170.9 billion budget that lawmakers sent to the governor. Brown has until June 27 to review and sign the budget bills, which is 12 days after lawmakers sent him the budget.
Office of Technology Services chief Robert Schmidt won the endorsement Monday of the Senate Rules Committee, which sent his nomination to the full Senate for final approval.
In a conversation with Techwire about his early candidacy, John Chiang says he wants to improve transparency of government spending and give the public more detailed data on expenditures. California still has much room to improve, observers say.
In an interview Tuesday with Techwire, Chiang, who is running for governor, called for more flexibility and honesty in the technology contracting process. As state controller in 2013, Chiang suspended the state's payroll project and terminated a $90 million contract after an unsuccessful pilot.
