The Maryland Senate on April 5 adopted amendments and passed Senate Bill 705, legislation that expands reporting requirements and oversight for major information technology projects administered by the Department of Information Technology.

Sponsor remarks described the measure as a response to long-standing problems with cost overruns and failed implementations on large state IT projects. The bill requires the Department of Information Technology to publish two annual reports on the Information Technology Investment Fund in plain language, maintain a public project-and-portfolio dashboard, and ensure that units have internal capacity before they receive funding for major IT projects. The bill also creates an Office of Digital Experience, a Maryland Digital Service unit, a major IT oversight division, and an Information Technology Advisory Board to advise the General Assembly.

Committee amendments adopted on the floor made technical corrections and added a requirement that the secretary of DoIT confirm a managing unithas program management capacity before funding implementation of a major IT development project. The amended bill also requires units to notify the Board of Public Works and Legislative Policy Committee within 30 days of an awarded contract and to report project status every three months.

Floor discussion noted prior audits showing overruns and cited billions in past excess costs. Senators from both parties were named in remarks as having worked on the package. One senator moved and the chamber adopted a cosponsor amendment on the floor to add a senator as a cosponsor.

After adopting committee amendments and the sponsorand cosponsor amendments on the floor, the Senate ordered the bill printed for third reading and later took final passage. The clerk recorded the final positive vote for the bill on third reading in the legislative journal.