NASCIO Hails Passage of DotGov Act

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.