Watch on Washington – February 5, 2020

Bipartisan Legislation Establishing State Cyber Coordinator Introduced in Senate
On January 22, U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Cornyn (R-TX), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced the Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act. The legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a Cybersecurity State Coordinator position in every state. Each state would have its own federally funded Cybersecurity Coordinator, who would be responsible for helping to prevent and respond to cybersecurity threats by working with federal, state, and local governments as well as schools, hospitals, and other entities. NASCIO and numerous state CIOs and CISOs worked extensively on the drafting of this bill. Check out the bill >

NASCIO Releases 2020 Federal Advocacy Priorities
NASCIO’s Executive Committee approved our annual list of federal advocacy priorities for 2020. These priorities include: continued harmonization of federal cybersecurity regulations, advocate for dedicated cybersecurity funding for state and local governments with CIOs as key decisionmakers, advocate for the widespread adoption of the DotGov domain for local governments, and the recognition of state authority and ongoing innovation with emerging technologies. Take a look at NASCIO’s 2020 federal advocacy priorities >

Congress Expresses Concern About REAL ID Deadline
On January 30, a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for details on its plans regarding the October 1, 2020 deadline for the switch to REAL ID compliant identification cards. The letter expressed concern of the potential for nearly 100,000 Americans to be stranded from air travel. See the letter sent to DHS >