LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, March 31, 2021 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A Resilient and Adaptable State IT Workforce. The publication includes data collected from state chief information officers (CIOs) in February and March of 2020 and in January and February 2021. Initially NASCIO set out to study the next generation state information technology (IT) workforce but the project was put on hold when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. Instead, NASCIO used the data collected before the pandemic and asked similar questions in 2021 to create a pre and mid-pandemic snapshot of the state IT workforce. A post-COVID survey of CIOs is also planned.

Notably, most CIO workforce priorities were consistent in each of the two surveys. However, there were also priorities CIOs did have in 2021 that they didn’t the previous year. Specifically, only three CIOs mentioned remote work in 2020 while, in the 2021 survey, most CIO responses were generally based on the assumption that remote work will be around permanently or at least for a while. Additionally, several CIOs wanted to create a diverse workforce and promote diversity, equity and inclusion as a priority in 2021, while only one CIO listed it as a priority in 2020. CIOs also listed artificial intelligence as a workforce priority in 2021 and did not list it at all in the 2020 survey.

The publication also includes extensive lessons learned from state CIOs. NASCIO President and New Hampshire Commissioner and CIO Denis Goulet commented, “It is clear that state IT staff have played and continue to play a critical role in keeping state government running during the COVID-19 pandemic. My fellow CIOs have consistently praised their staff for their resiliency during this past year.”

LEXINGTON, KY., January 14, 2021 — Today, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released its 2021 federal advocacy priorities. As state CIOs are asked to take on an increasing role to protect state and local governments from a constant barrage of cybersecurity threats, NASCIO’s advocacy priorities reflect the importance of collaboration between states and the federal government to ensure cyber resiliency. The priorities are:

• Harmonize Disparate Federal Cybersecurity Regulations
• Authorize and Appropriate a Dedicated Cybersecurity Grant Program for State and Local Governments
• Advocate for Widespread Adoption of DotGov Domain
• Provide Funding for State Governments to Modernize Legacy IT
• Expand Broadband Access and Reform FCC Mapping Methodology Systems

Fact sheets regarding the above priorities can be found here.

“Cybersecurity is a critical part of the business of state government and these priorities reflect the importance of a multi-faceted approach to cybersecurity,” said NASCIO President and New Hampshire Commissioner and CIO Denis Goulet. “COVID-19 has also shed light on issues, like modernization and broadband, that states have grappled with for years. It is our hope that highlighting these topics in our advocacy priorities will help states confront these challenges.”

The association’s federal advocacy priorities are selected by NASCIO’s executive committee and reflect policy priorities as indicated by association members in the State CIO Top Ten (www.NASCIO.org).

LEXINGTON, Ky., Tuesday, January 5, 2021 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today hailed the passage of the DotGov Online Trust in Government Act. For many years, NASCIO has advocated for the increased adoption of the DotGov domain and made it a legislative priority in 2020. The new law takes serious steps to expand the adoption of the DotGov domain in order to improve the cybersecurity of state and local government websites.

NASCIO President and New Hampshire Commissioner and CIO Denis Goulet commended the passage of the DotGov Act saying, “adoption of the DotGov domain is one of the simplest steps that governments can take to strengthen their cybersecurity posture and sends a message to the user that the domain is legitimate, secure and trusted. With rampant misinformation and disinformation campaigns from issues ranging from elections to COVID-19, it is paramount that citizens receive accurate and trusted information from government websites. NASCIO looks forward to continuing our collaboration with federal partners on the implementation of this new law.”

Specifically, the DotGov law transfers the DotGov program from the General Services Administration to the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Under the law, CISA is tasked with the development of an outreach strategy to inform and support the migration to the DotGov domain of local governments, as well as provide technical information on how to migrate online services to DotGov. Additionally, the law authorizes the use of Homeland Security Grant funds as an allowable expense for the adoption of the DotGov domain and further stipulates that the Director of CISA may waive any fees associated with migration to DotGov.

LEXINGTON, Ky.,Wednesday, December 9, 2020—today, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released the State CIO Top 10 for 2021. The Top 10 represents state technology leaders’ top policy and technology priorities for the coming year, as voted on by state CIOs, and has been published every year since 2007. Cybersecurity remains the top priority for the eighth year running and workforce rejoins the top ten after being absent since 2016.

“State CIO priorities for 2021 clearly reflect the events of the past year,” said Denis Goulet, NASCIO President and CIO and Commissioner for the State of New Hampshire. “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity, digital government services and broadband access, among other topics.”

Other items of note from the 2021 Top 10 are:

• In addition to being the number one priority for the past several years, cybersecurity has always been on the list since the Top 10 has been published
• Digital government is number two this year, moving up from number four in 2019
• Broadband is the highest its ever been on the Top 10 coming in at number four
• Since 2011 cloud services has been on the Top 10 and comes in at number three this year
• Customer relationship management remains on the list this year

NASCIO utilizes the annual voting of priorities to develop strategic areas of focus for the coming year, formulate new committees and working groups and plan NASCIO conference sessions and publications.

The Top 10 can be found on NASCIO’s website, www.NASCIO.org.

LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, November 5, 2020 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) provided a $11,000 donation to Minnesota Central Kitchen. The organization brings together restaurants, caterers, local farmers and hunger-fighting organizations to tackle hunger and layoffs brought on by the coronavirus. When NASCIO was originally planning to hold an in-person conference, the event was to be held in Minneapolis. The NASCIO Programs Committee chose to give back to the city even though the annual conference was held virtually.

Donations were collected virtually during the 2020 NASCIO Annual Conference and NASCIO state, corporate and nonprofit members donated through individual contributions. NASCIO corporate members Carahsoft, Fortinet, KPMG, NIC and Tanium sponsored this year’s Give Back Program and contributed to the donation total.

Minnesota Central Kitchen hires laid off food-service workers to prepare meals with donated/rescued food for those in need; serving over 42,000 individual and family-style takeout meals per week to hungry Minnesotans. The effort is led by Second Harvest Heartland, a member of Feeding America.

To learn more about Minnesota Central Kitchen, visit https://www.2harvest.org/who–how-we-help/services-and-programs/minnesota-central-kitchen.html.