Rules Committee advances bill to update state IT purchasing to include software

Senator Michael Padilla urged the Senate Rules Committee to approve a committee substitute for Senate Bill 132 that would explicitly add the word "software" to the state's information-technology procurement statute to account for cloud services and software-as-a-service purchases.

"Essentially, this is a modernization bill," Padilla said, describing a shift from purchasing hardware to planning for software and cloud services as core state needs. Cabinet Secretary Manny Barretas of the Department of Information Technology told the panel the change will "modernize, secure services for agencies and citizens, [and] reduce risk of failures and emergency need for emergency, fixes." Barretas listed commonly used products such as Microsoft 365, Adobe, Google Workspace and Zoom as examples of the software services the state now buys.

Committee members questioned how the change would affect centralization, security and funding. Senator Block asked whether the bill contemplates an integrated, centralized system across branches with layered access controls; Barretas said the department’s office of cybersecurity reviews purchases and argued standardization can save money and increase efficiency. On funding, Barretas said the revolving fund that will cover software expenditures "sits about about 15,000,000 per year," and that the state is "spending over $15,000,000 today on software." He described a recent rate-setting adjustment that increased charges from 3% to 5% to help recover costs.

The committee moved a do-pass recommendation on the Senate Rules Committee substitute for SB132 and the chair directed members present to register affirmative votes; there was no recorded opposition. The substitute now advances to the full Senate for further consideration.