Senate Institutions makes IT oversight, data privacy early priorities

The Senate Institutions committee met on Jan. 7 to map its priorities for the 2026 session and placed oversight of state information-technology projects and data privacy at the top of the list. Chair (Speaker 1) said the committee will request briefings and hold joint hearings to better understand major projects and the state's data structure.

Senator (Speaker 3), who chaired the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee during the interim, told colleagues that the committee reviewed state IT projects and “a lot of what we did was look at state IT projects, where they are, currently, how the process is going, and doing oversight on that.” He said Lisa Gobin, described in the meeting as a school-office IT consultant, will present an overview of the highest-priority projects this week.

The committee discussed coordinating with the House Energy and Digital Infrastructures committee and asked ADS Connect to explain how state data are structured and used. Chair (Speaker 1) said those joint hearings reduce duplication and can produce more actionable outcomes: “I think that's a really helpful way to to to get things done when we're working with other communities.”

Members flagged aging state systems and cited the newly implemented DMV system as an instance of successful modernization. Chair (Speaker 1) emphasized protecting resident and state property data as part of oversight work, noting the risk that older platforms can be vulnerable.

The committee also said it will review interim systems projects and the capital bill in coming meetings; Scott Moore is scheduled to brief members on the current capital bill. No formal votes or changes in statute were recorded at the Jan. 7 meeting. The next substantive hearings were described as pending scheduling with House counterparts and agency presenters.