House committee OKs ADS redline, seeks original schedule and cost columns on public IT dashboard

Representative Kathleen James, chair of the House Energy Digital Infrastructure Committee, presided over a committee markup on bill 250896 on Thursday, Feb. 27, focusing on transparency requirements for the Agency of Digital Services(ADS).

The committee reviewed an ADS-proposed redline of the draft that would replace much of the committee's original language with ADS wording for a public dashboard and an annual report. James said the discussion was urgent because the committee was scheduled to vote the next day: "This is an important committee meeting" and "I think that my sense of the room is that everybody's good with that. Hey. Thanks, mister Myers. Thanks, everybody," concluding that the bill was likely to be voted on at "01:30PM" the following day.

Committee members agreed in principle to adopt the ADS draft language but pressed to restore or clarify several items they said are essential for legislative oversight: an explicit focus on information about projects throughout the project life cycle, a requirement that the dashboard include indicators showing whether a project is on time and on budget, and columns capturing original (initial) estimates so the public and legislators can see change over time.

Why it matters: committee members said the bill is meant to create a persistent public record so future legislatures and the public…