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Subcommittee advances IT modernization bill after heated debate over what 'oversight' means
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Summary
The Health and Government Operations subcommittee voted to send Delegate Kaiser's IT modernization bill to the full committee after extended debate about whether the bill's definition of 'oversight of implementation' would require DoIT to perform day‑to‑day project management, a concern raised by agencies and the Attorney General's Office.
Delegate Ken Kerr's subcommittee voted April 2 to advance HB738, an IT modernization and oversight measure sponsored by Delegate Kaiser, after extended debate over statutory language that agencies and the Attorney General's Office said could be read to require the Department of Information Technology to manage projects day to day.
The bill creates a new oversight structure for major IT projects, allows transfer of existing FY26 staff-augmentation funds and monies from the Information Technology Investment Fund to a new office, and directs DoIT to adopt standards and reporting to reduce costly project overruns. "The concern is the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars that have been lost over the years," Kaiser said in opening remarks, arguing the state needs technical expertise to protect taxpayer funds.
Agency witnesses and counsel pushed back on the bill's language. Jenny Smith, a DoIT subject matter expert, argued the word "managing" carries operational responsibilities: "Managing means we are in the day to day of these projects. We're managing their scrum meetings. We're managing their backlog," she said, warning that such a reading would turn DoIT into a hands‑on project manager rather than a standards and oversight body.
Representatives from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and Lottery expressed parallel concerns about federal access rules and sensitive systems, and Melissa Ross from the governor's office said her subject matter experts remained worried the definition could trigger a significantly larger fiscal note.
Counsel and the sponsor proposed compromise language and transitional fixes. Counsel suggested adding an explicit carve‑out saying oversight "does not include" day‑to‑day management of an agency's internal IT project operations, while DoIT and advocates said they would work on precise wording before the full committee. "We will sort this one area of disagreement out, and we'll go ahead and get it ready for the full committee," Chair Kerr said before the subcommittee voted to move the amended bill with the understanding the definition will be finalized later.
What happens next: HB738 will appear on the full Health and Government Operations Committee agenda, where members said they expect the parties to return with narrowly tailored language clarifying that DoIT's role is standards, monitoring and enforcement—not routine project execution.
