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Department of Administration seeks funding to create Office of Statewide Data; senators raise privacy concerns
Summary
The Department of Administration proposed a new Office of Statewide Data with $2.2 million recurring and $4 million one-time to coordinate agency data governance and sharing; senators pressed for privacy protections and limits on data centralization.
The Department of Administration asked the committee to authorize and fund an Office of Statewide Data to reduce data silos, improve interagency data sharing and support pilot projects in sectors such as health care and law enforcement.
Officials said the new office would fund a staff of approximately five, a chief data officer and related positions, and requested $2,207,000 in recurring funds and $4,000,000 in nonrecurring startup funding to build governance frameworks and initial pilots. The presenter emphasized agencies would retain legal ownership of their data and that the office's role is to create agreements and standards for sharing data where federal and state law permits.
Several senators raised civil-liberty and privacy concerns, asking the administration to clarify what the office would and would not do. One senator said he feared consolidated data could be used to "restrain the exercise of liberty," and asked for detail on the office's scope, access rules and safeguards. Administration staff responded that the proposal is not a single centralized data repository and that agencies would remain responsible for their data; the office would focus on governance, mapping data holdings and enabling authorized sharing under existing law.
The administration framed initial use cases around improving service coordination for citizens who interact with multiple agencies, for example health and social services, and described potential efficiency and accountability gains from standardizing metrics and platforms. Officials also discussed IT shared services migration and the potential long-term direction of centralizing some technology reporting to improve security and reduce duplicated systems.
Committee members requested examples from other states, additional privacy safeguards and clearer explanations of how the office would operate in practice and protect individual data. The hearing did not produce an immediate vote; members asked administration staff to provide further documentation and demonstrations of models used in other states.
Next steps noted by presenters include providing additional detail on governance, pilot scope and legal authorities required to implement data-sharing agreements.
