House hearing probes bill to bar technology tied to foreign adversaries from Missouri critical infrastructure

Representative John Simmons (R), District 109, introduced House Bill 1231 — labeled the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act — at a House Committee on Utilities hearing, laying out a proposal to identify and avoid products linked to foreign adversaries and to remove such equipment from state critical infrastructure.

Simmons opened by reading excerpts from testimony by a former director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, saying that state actors "preposition malware within our power grids, pipelines, water treatment plants, and other critical infrastructure." Simmons described the bill as a way to "help Missouri better" insulate telecommunications, utility systems, emergency services, transportation systems and cloud providers from attacks by foreign adversaries. "It will also require the removal of Chinese equipment from state infrastructure, prevent future procurement of technology linked to adversaries, and require background checks for individuals with access…