Senate approves IT optimization and creates state security operations center under ITS

The Mississippi Senate passed two related measures to consolidate and strengthen the state's information technology and cybersecurity posture.

Senate Bill 26‑53 (IT Optimization Act) creates a statewide program to promote shared services, minimum technology standards for agencies, a council of agency chief information officers, and an IT optimization fund to seed shared services. Senator Williams described consolidation examples — "our 31 largest agencies each have a Microsoft mail account... If we can have 1 enterprise account ... we would have duplicity that's reduced and we a rough estimate of cost savings is somewhere between 1 and 2 and a half million dollars" — and said the act is intended to reduce unnecessary duplication.

Senate Bill 26‑54 would establish a single State Security Operations Center (SOC) within ITS to provide threat monitoring, incident response and assistance to local governments and school systems. Senator Williams said the SOC would coordinate cyber response, support workforce development in partnership with higher education, and streamline state reporting when incidents occur. On the floor she noted there are budget requests tied to the SOC ("I believe there's some dollars in the budget request ... it's about $3,000,000"), and senators asked for additional cost and implementation detail; sponsors added reverse‑repealer language on the floor to allow legislative follow‑up.

Both bills were adopted with committee substitutes and passed by morning roll call. Sponsors and some senators signaled further oversight and follow‑up as agencies transition systems and as appropriations are finalized.

What’s next: ITS and agency CIOs will need to coordinate implementation, define shared contracts and reporting lines, and provide fiscal detail to the Legislature's budget offices.