Legislative IT director briefs Commerce & Economic Development Committee on device support, cybersecurity and a new 'Legislative Navigator' tool

Kevin Moore, director of the Office of Legislative Information Technology for the General Assembly, told the Commerce & Economic Development Committee on Jan. 10 that his office is the legislature’s sole IT resource and provides device support, networks, audiovisual systems, bill-tracking tools and cybersecurity services to legislators and staff.

Moore said the office aims to keep technology from becoming a barrier to the legislative process and that staff measure response time in minutes rather than hours or days. “We do not work for the agency of digital services. We work for you. We work for all of you and we serve the legislature directly,” Moore said.

The briefing outlined several operational priorities and recent developments. Moore reviewed the legislature’s move to paperless operations starting with an iPad pilot more than a decade ago, the resulting savings on printing consumables and the subsequent expansion of wireless and video technology in committee rooms. He cited an early analysis — conducted by former Chief Fiscal Officer Steve Klein and described by Moore — that found the cost of iPads over three years was offset by one year’s savings in printing consumables, though Moore said increasing color printing has reduced some of those gains.

Moore described the office’s work on cybersecurity and data protection, including in-house security staff and an intention to expand cybersecurity awareness training for legislators through a platform called Security Mentor. He said the iPad is encrypted by its lock PIN and that email remains the No. 1 threat vector; he encouraged skepticism about unexpected attachments and offered the office’s help to screen suspicious messages. On VPNs, Moore said he uses one when traveling outside the continental United States and that most legislators do not need a VPN for routine tasks because the legislature’s internal networks already apply segmentation and isolation.

The presentation also covered ongoing equipment and infrastructure needs. The office has upgraded microphones, 360-degree cameras and redundancy for speaker and camera systems, and is pilot-testing newer 360-degree cameras in mezzanine committee rooms. Moore said the office lost a significant amount of equipment in a 2023 flood and is awaiting FEMA and insurance payments before rebuilding its spare-equipment inventory.

Moore described a planned tool, called Legislative Navigator, that will centralize bill subscriptions, drafting requests and other workflow elements so legislators can see committee assignments, sponsored bills and relevant materials in one interface. He said the office will seek beta testers for pieces of that system.

He listed the office’s staffing and points of contact: a nine-person team that includes a copy-room technician (Tony Morris), primary user support/trainer Delia Gillen and user support specialists Patrick Hague and Merrick Crewman; network security administrator Rane Torres; longtime systems analyst Duncan Goss; web developer Atwood; and systems administrator Sean Allen. Moore said the office will maintain a presence in the card room around midday and asked legislators to use the helpdesk (EHelpDesk) for support; completed tickets generate an anonymous survey used to improve services.

Moore emphasized operational limits: the office will support software tools legislators already license but cannot purchase proprietary licenses for individual legislators due to budget and equity constraints. He said staff will help troubleshoot and liaise with product vendors when needed. No committee action or vote accompanied the briefing.

The committee did not take formal action; Moore and members discussed training, software (for example, Kofax PDF and earlier Iannotate PDF), printing practices and travel-related device configuration. Moore urged reduced color printing and double-sided printing where possible to preserve cost savings.

The committee’s next meeting was announced for Tuesday at 9 a.m.; Moore said he would supply materials for the committee and invite beta testers for the Legislative Navigator in coming weeks.