Committee hears cybersecurity bill requiring local units to adopt state guidance, creates grant fund but no immediate funding

Senate Bill 472, a measure to raise cybersecurity standards for Indiana local governments and schools and to create a grant fund and a voluntary insurance mechanism, drew extended testimony and questions at the House Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform.

Author Sen. Victoria Brown said the bill grew from work of the AI and cybersecurity task force and earlier local concerns about liability costs for schools. “We created a fund,” she said in explaining the approach, “and the most important thing is to bring this to their attention” so local units adopt best practices. She said the committee extended the timeline for compliance to 2027 and clarified the fund language in an amendment distributed at the hearing.

Supporters described capacity gaps. Jeremy Miller, state president of the Special Forces Association and CEO of Lionfish Cybersecurity, told the committee that “the majority of the 92 counties lack resources,…