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Governor signs $1.66 billion Future Tech Act to modernize state and local IT
Summary
At a bill-signing event, the governor announced the Future Tech Act, a five-year, $1.66 billion bond package to upgrade cybersecurity, modernize services and expand municipal IT grants, with officials highlighting AI projects and municipal fiber funding.
The governor presided over a bill-signing ceremony to enact the five-year Future Tech Act, authorizing $1,660,000,000 in technology bond investments intended to modernize state systems and support local governments and school districts.
The administration said the funding is designed to ‘‘keep our IT systems up to date, safe, and secure,’’ improve accessibility for services such as health records and unemployment insurance, and help municipalities close connectivity gaps through a municipal fiber grant program. Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll said the measure also supports the state’s community compact IT program and will help ‘‘make local government more efficient, more accessible’’ for residents.
Secretary of Technology Services and Security Jason Snyder outlined elements the administration expects to fund under the act, including a statewide ‘‘digital road map’’ and more than 100 projects. He cited specific initiatives: an Employment Modernization Transformation portal to simplify interaction with unemployment insurance; a Child Care Financial Assistance modernization project to ease families’ access; replacement of an EOHLC application that serves local housing authorities; and an enhanced student financial aid access project intended to speed college-aid applications.
Officials framed investment in applied artificial intelligence as a cross-cutting priority. Snyder said state applications have used AI to automate complex tasks such as grants management and ‘‘policy checks’’ for capital projects, reducing review times that previously took weeks. The governor said the administration has created an AI task force and intends to make applied AI ‘‘a cornerstone’’ of economic-development work and service delivery.
The administration also noted the bill’s role in leveraging federal dollars and other state funding. The governor said a federal funds office helped secure ‘‘over $7,000,000,000’’ in federal funding in the last 18 months that the state will pair with bond authorizations.
The event closed with the administration affirming that the bond authorizations will be prioritized and implemented through further administrative planning; officials did not announce a detailed roll-out schedule at the signing.
