Bill to expand public reporting of state IT projects, lawmakers seek December study on state data sales

Senators reviewed H.458, the House27s bill to increase disclosure about state information-technology projects managed by the Agency of Digital Services (ADS). Representative Kathleen James, chair of the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee, told the Senate committee the bill is meant to give legislators and the public clearer, more consistent information about the scope, schedule and budget of ADS projects.

"We have a $762,000,000 worth of projects underway across state government," Representative Kathleen James said, describing the figure as a mix of state and federal dollars and the reason for expanded oversight. She and her colleagues said the bill replaces a fixed cost threshold for reporting with a requirement to include projects managed by ADS27 enterprise project management office (EPMO) and to add details such as original cost, original completion date, closure details and changes over time.

The bill would require ADS to maintain a publicly accessible inventory or dashboard that is updated monthly and that lists, for each project, the state government business partner, project name, start date, estimated completion date at the start of implementation and whether the project is on time, estimated cost at the start of implementation and whether the project is on budget, as well as a current estimated completion date and current estimated cost. The House committee also added a requirement to include staffing costs, when available, to show how much partner agencies are contributing in staff time.

James said the committee worked with the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) consultant Lisa Govan and with ADS during bill drafting; she said ADS staff demonstrated dashboard improvements during testimony and will begin providing quarterly reports. The bill also would require the chief information officer to disclose in the annual report when the CIO has waived an independent review of a project.

Separately, sponsors discussed optional Senate language, suggested by Senator Harris, to require ADS to deliver a one-time December study identifying whether state entities sell data, what data is sold and how much revenue the practice generates. James said the study27s definitions should explicitly include the Office of the Secretary of State so that entities such as the Secretary27s office would not be excluded by an overly narrow definition of "agency."

No formal vote on H.458 was recorded in the committee during this session. ADS testimony and Secretary Riley Hughes27s appearance were scheduled later in the day.

The committee indicated it would consider any Senate amendments and would take additional testimony from ADS and JFO before deciding whether to adopt the suggested study language.