Executive Committee approves Google Workspace implementation for legislative department

The Executive Committee of the Legislative Council on Jan. 31 voted unanimously to approve a Google Workspace implementation plan for the legislative department, allowing the department to proceed with an enterprise Google Workspace (collect.gov) for members and staff.

Director Castle of Legislative Council staff briefed the committee and answered questions about account delegation, password sharing and external document sharing. Committee members raised concerns about external sharing of working documents and whether individual members could continue to use personal Google Workspace accounts; staff said the technical ability to use separate accounts would remain, but the department recommended using the enterprise account for official email and collaboration.

Deputy Director Johnny (IT) and other staff described security controls, including options for data‑loss prevention and limiting outbound sharing by account. Committee members asked for clarity on how shared drives, chat visibility and password delegation would be handled; staff said shared drive options could be allowed but nonpartisan staff would be restricted from external sharing outside the collect.gov domain for security reasons.

Madam Speaker moved to approve the Google Workspace decision item as presented by Legislative Council staff. The roll call recorded multiple ‘Yes’ votes and the chair declared the motion passed unanimously.

Committee members asked staff to circulate scripts and to continue offering the sandbox/testing environment to refine delegation and sharing workflows.