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Committee reviews bill for statewide IT and cybersecurity staffing study, sponsor cites $500,000 amendment
Summary
Delegate Kaiser urged a favorable report on HB1335, a two-year study of state IT and cybersecurity staffing, agency technology environments, and updated IT classifications and pay scales; the sponsor said the research scope was amended from $750,000 to $500,000 and she placed $250,000 in this year’s budget.
The Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee heard testimony on House Bill 1335, a two-year study intended to assess state agency IT and cybersecurity staffing, evaluate each agency’s technology environment and recommend updated IT job classifications and pay scales.
Delegate Kaiser, the bill’s sponsor, said longstanding state pay scales make it hard to recruit and retain skilled IT professionals and that exceptions are made in other fields. She said the bill as drafted had an estimated cost of $750,000 but was amended to narrow the research scope to $500,000 and that she has placed $250,000 in this year’s budget. “We need the right IT professionals in our jobs,” Delegate Kaiser said, urging a favorable report.
Kaiser said the study would address recruitment and retention barriers, fiscal challenges and infrastructure stagnation and would identify whether updated classifications and compensation strategies are needed. The sponsor described the work as a first step to create a “world-class cadre of IT professionals embedded in all state agencies.”
The transcript records that the bill “passed by 128 to eight,” a prior recorded vote referenced by the sponsor; during the committee hearing she requested the panel forward a favorable report. The hearing concluded with no additional witnesses on the record for this bill.
Next steps: the sponsor asked the committee to report the bill favorably; no committee vote was recorded in the hearing transcript.
