Legislative IT director outlines office mission, budget and services to committee

Kevin Moore, director of the Office of Legislative Information Technology, told a legislative committee that his office exists to support legislators, staff and committees with internal technology services and to ensure public access to legislative information.

Moore said the office was created in statute in 2019 as part of a structural reorganization recommended by the National Conference of State Legislatures and removed from the Office of Legislative Council so that legislative IT would serve all offices of the General Assembly equally. Moore said the statutory reference appears as QBSA section 701 in the presentation materials.

“We use a term in our offices called aggressively nonpartisan,” Moore said, describing the office’s approach to serving members and staff without even the perception of partisanship.

Moore described the office’s mission as internally focused — providing tools and support for legislators and staff — while also powering public-facing resources such as the real-time information that populates the legislature’s website. He said the office maintains a full range of services including device provisioning, networking, cybersecurity, application and database development, systems integration and streaming for committee proceedings post-COVID.

He told members the office operates on a standalone budget developed in collaboration with the Joint Fiscal Office, overseen by the Joint Legislative Management Committee and advised on large projects by the joint information technology oversight committee. Moore said the office’s budget this year is about $2,400,000 and that the unit employs nine people; that total includes personnel, software licensing, hardware and infrastructure costs.

Moore also discussed staffing and backgrounds, noting a mix of private-sector, nonprofit and federal service experience among team members, and mentioned specific staff including a user support specialist named Patrick and a facilities/coffee-room technician, Tony Morris. Committee members in the transcript thanked Moore for the office’s responsiveness during the COVID transition and for ongoing support.

Moore said the office monitors website analytics to track page traffic and prioritizes uptime and accessibility, describing the legislature as “one of the most accessible state legislatures” in its post-COVID streaming capabilities. He said the office does not track individual users but does analyze which pages and resources are most heavily trafficked to guide maintenance and development.

Ending

Moore offered to return for further discussion and committee members said they would schedule additional briefings as needed. The transcript records the committee expressing appreciation for the office’s responsiveness and for Moore’s presentation.