On the Priorities podcast, Jon Rogers, the Indiana Office of Technology’s director of strategic workforce planning, says the state’s training residents with and without college degrees to take on careers in the state’s IT operations.
https://statescoop.com/nascio-2022-survey-workforce-cio-roles/

Also on the podcast, Tennessee's Executive Director of Intelligent Automation Bob Pucci explains how the state is automating processes to improve customer experience, maximize employee resources and imbue services with greater flexibility and scalability. 
https://statescoop.com/nascio-names-winners-of-2022-state-it-recognition-awards/

In the news this week:

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says an apparent denial-of-service attack took down websites operated by his office for much of Election Day. 
https://statescoop.com/mississippi-election-day-ddos-incident/

Pennsylvania is moving forward with next-generation 911 after selecting a vendor to guide the state through the migration, implementation and post-migration phases.
https://statescoop.com/pennsylvania-next-generation-911-mission-critical-partners/

Washington state has a new CISO. 
https://statescoop.com/washington-ciso-ralph-johnson-los-angeles-times/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
http://www.prioritiespodcast.com

Indiana tackles workforce woes with training program

On the Priorities podcast, Louisville, Kentucky, Chief of Civic Innovation Grace Simrall outlines how her team played a part in preparing the city’s new mayor to take office.
https://statescoop.com/radio/louisville-kentucky-codifies-open-data-portal/
https://statescoop.com/list/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2022-localsmart-awards/

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published its much-anticipated review of cybersecurity readiness at K-12 school districts
https://statescoop.com/cisa-publishes-k12-cybersecurity-roadmap/

Phoenix is building out its wireless infrastructure ahead of this year’s Super Bowl.
https://statescoop.com/phoenix-5g-wireless-infrastructure-super-bowl/

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is barring state agencies from conducting any business with technology and telecommunications companies tied to what she deemed “evil foregin governments.”
https://statescoop.com/kristi-noem-south-dakota-evil-foreign-governments/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
http://www.prioritiespodcast.com

What’s next for civic innovation in Louisville

On the Priorities podcast, Lynn Overmann, the new director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University, says that the center is working to emphasize the delivery of services and move beyond evangelizing the importance of digital government.
https://statescoop.com/lynn-overmann-beeck-center/

In the news this week:

A recent breach of D.C. Health Link, a health care insurance exchange in the nation’s capital, has exposed the sensitive information of at least 21 current members of Congress.
https://statescoop.com/dc-health-data-posted-online/

New York State will soon publish a revamped portal that will make it easier for employers to give staff early notice of mass layoffs or office closures.
https://statescoop.com/new-york-layoffs-portal-warn-act/

Connecticut is installing new sensors along ramps to highways that notify police of wrong-way driving. 
https://statescoop.com/connecticut-wrong-way-driving-sensors-state-police/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
www.prioritiespodcast.com

What’s next for Georgetown’s Beeck Center

On the Priorities podcast, Scottsdale, Arizona, CIO Bianca Lochner says the city’s GIS and data-driven portal around short-term rentals will allow residents to track where short-term rentals are in the city — and find out what city government can do about it.
https://statescoop.com/list/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2022-localsmart-awards/
https://str.scottsdaleaz.gov
https://statescoop.com/bloomberg-philanthropies-city-data-alliance/

In the news this week:

While more than half of Americans prefer to interact with government agencies online, only about a quarter of them actually use the digital government services agencies develop, according to new research from Deloitte. 
https://statescoop.com/government-digital-services-online-deloitte-survey/

The Bloomberg Center for Cities officially opened its doors at the Harvard Kennedy School this week. 
https://statescoop.com/harvard-opens-bloomberg-center-for-cities/

New York City opened its fifth Gigabit Center, this one in Staten Island, this week.
https://statescoop.com/fifth-nyc-gigabit-center-opens-staten-island/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
www.prioritiespodcast.com

How Scottsdale, Ariz., uses data to monitor short-term rentals

On the Priorities podcast, two Arkansas Administrative Office of the Court leaders say their efforts to build a new system instead of going with a commercial product is saving the state a significant amount of money.
https://statescoop.com/arkansas-courts-it-modernization/

In the news this week:

Delaware’s new CIO Greg Lane says he’s looking forward to completing some key projects that he helped develop during his time as the state’s CTO now that he’s in the top job himself. 
https://statescoop.com/delaware-greg-lane-cio-digital-government/

Long-awaited proposals to update a section of the Americans with Disabilities Act and introduce technical standards to improve the accessibility of state and local government websites and apps are imminent, according to Justice Department officials. 
https://statescoop.com/state-local-web-accessibility-standards-doj/

Seven subway stations in New York City are now equipped with some type of artificial intelligence to track fare evasion, according to a May report from the city’s transportation authority. 
https://statescoop.com/nyc-ai-subway-fare-evasion/

Register now for StateScoop’s IT Modernization Summit
https://itmodernizationsummit.upgather.com/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
www.prioritiespodcast.com

Inside Arkansas courts’ modernization efforts

On this week’s Priorities podcast, a North Carolina technology official outlines how a new, experimental emergency paging system for first responders is gaining traction in his state.
The project won a 2023 NASCIO State IT Recognition Award.
https://www.nascio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/NC_Information_Communication_Technology_Innovation.pdf
https://statescoop.com/nascio-2023-state-award-winners/

In the news this week:
State CIOs are focusing on shifting financial models and a bubbling interest in generative artificial intelligence in 2023, according to a new CIO survey from the National Association of State CIOs.
https://statescoop.com/gen-ai-financial-models-states-nascio-2023/

Kansas has a new IT lead
https://statescoop.com/jeff-maxon-kansas-cio-cito/

Broadband providers will be required to display easy-to-understand information about the cost and performance of broadband services both online and in stores by 2024, according to an announcement for the Federal Communications Commission.
https://statescoop.com/fcc-broadband-label-deadline/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
http://www.prioritiespodcast.com/

Next-generation paging for public safety

On this week’s Priorities podcast, North Carolina’s chief data officer shares her state’s “journey” developing an enterprisewide algorithm that’s helping to unify data efforts.
https://statescoop.com/nascio-2023-state-award-winners/

Later on the podcast, Mark Smith, the chief information officer at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, explains how replacing a paper-based internal process for requesting system access with a digital one is reducing errors and saving time.
https://statescoop.com/nascio-names-finalists-of-2023-state-it-recognition-awards/

In the news this week:

New York State has hired its first chief customer experience officer.
https://statescoop.com/new-york-first-chief-customer-experience-officer/

Philadelphia city government officials say they were hit by a cyberattack in May.
https://statescoop.com/philadelphia-city-health-data-cyberattack-orange-county/

Nonprofit civic tech group U.S. Digital Response is leading a new initiative to assist state and local government agencies hire and retain staff with digital skills.
https://statescoop.com/state-local-government-workforce-usdr/

The Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday.
Listen more here.
https://statescoop.com/show/priorities/

How North Carolina is linking up its data

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Texas CIO Amanda Crawford says the state’s advisory council will guide the state’s embrace of generative artificial intelligence.
https://statescoop.com/state-government-generative-ai-uses/

Also on the podcast, U.S. Virgin Islands’ Bureau of Information Technology Deputy Director Jonathan Tucker outlines his approach to digital transformation.

In the news this week:

Colorado’s Department of Higher Education waited more than a month to report a massive data breach to the state attorney general’s office, evading state law, according to an investigation by the Denver Gazette.
https://statescoop.com/colorado-data-breach-disclosure/

Contracts for technology services awarded to a private firm in Orange County, New York, are drawing scrutiny from state legislators after an alleged conflict of interest was discovered between the contracted company’s owner and the county’s human resource coordinator.
https://statescoop.com/orange-county-ny-tech-contract-scrutiny-scandal/

Civic technology nonprofit Code for America announced it’s reached a collective bargaining agreement with its union, CfA Workers United, after nearly two years of negotiations.
https://statescoop.com/code-for-america-ratifies-first-union-contract/

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
www.prioritiespodcast.com

How Texas is approaching generative AI

On this week's Priorities podcast, South Dakota Chief Technology Officer Pat Snow says the state is continuing to roll out additional services on top of its enterprise identity platform. Also on the podcast, Washington, D.C.'s Associate CTO for Customer Experience Mike Rupert says the district's digital services efforts are playing a big role in Mayor Muriel Bowser's "big comeback" effort post-pandemic. Later, Minnesota CIO Tarek Tomes says his state is pursuing an "ambitious agenda" for digital transformation.

In the news this week:

Nearly two-thirds of local government officials believe their budgets are inadequate to support their cyber programs, according to new survey results from the Public Technology Institute.
https://statescoop.com/pti-cybersecurity-survey-local-government/

Results for America, a nonprofit aiming to help governments use data to solve community challenges, is recognizing 10 states for their use of data decision-making.
https://statescoop.com/results-for-america-evidence-decision-awards/

New York state is proposing a new set of cybersecurity regulations for the state’s hospitals.
https://statescoop.com/new-york-cybersecurity-regulations-state-hospitals/

The Priorities Podcast is available weekly on Thursdays.
Listen here.
https://statescoop.com/show/priorities/

How South Dakota is modernizing citizen services

On this week's Priorities podcast, California CIO Liana Bailey-Crimmins outlines how her office approached putting together its first report on generative artificial intelligence. 
statescoop.com/california-generative-ai-use-cases/

Also on the podcast, Maryland's artificial intelligence adviser Nishant Shah explains his approach to the role. Later, Arkansas CIO Jonathan Askins talks about how he's looking to implement good governance rules around cybersecurity in the state.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

How California is evaluating generative AI

n this week's Priorities podcast, two Kansas information technology officials say their state is preparing for the embrace of artificial intelligence as it approaches key state priorities like cybersecurity and digital services.
statescoop.com/kansas-generative-artificial-intelligence-policy/

Also on the podcast, Maryland's new CIO Greg Rogers offers his thoughts on how the state can continue to expand and grow its cybersecurity posture.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday.
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

Inside Kansas' approach to artificial intelligence

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Nevada CIO Timothy Galluzi says the move of the state’s IT office from the Department of Administration to the Office of the Governor is helping his team become a “great enabler of government services."

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
http://www.prioritiespodcast.com/

How Nevada’s IT restructuring is improving services

On this week's Priorities podcast, Code for America's Eleanor Davis and No Kid Hungry's Marisa Kirk-Epstein explain a new playbook designed to help state governments connect students to nutritious food options over the summer.
statescoop.com/code-for-america-playbook-summer-ebt-program/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

Inside Code for America's new food benefits playbook

On this week's Priorities podcast, the author behind a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission against automated public-benefit fraud detection software explains why he's asking for more responsible use of artificial intelligence by governments and their vendors.
https://statescoop.com/nonprofit-ftc-complaint-automated-benefits-responsible-ai/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

Why a nonprofit is asking the FTC to require responsible AI use

On this week's Priorities podcast, Pennsylvania CIO Amaya Capellan says the state's purchase of 50 enterprise ChatGPT licenses is a "natural way" for the state to get involved in generative artificial intelligence.
statescoop.com/pennsylvania-openai-chatgpt-pilot-program-2024/

In the news this week:
Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick is alleging that the state’s Secretary of State has refused to provide copies of cybersecurity reviews for Missouri’s 116 local election authorities.
statescoop.com/missouri-jay-ashcroft-cybersecurity-reports-elections/

The Utah state auditor conducted a privacy review of over 1,600 government entities and nonprofits.
statescoop.com/utah-privacy-policy-audit/

State attorneys general are expressing concerns that the rise of AI-powered telemarketing could bypass existing laws against robocalls.
statescoop.com/state-attorneys-general-artificial-intelligence-telemarketing/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

How Pennsylvania is rolling out ChatGPT to employees

On this week's Priorities podcast, researchers at the National Institute for Standards and Technology warn of new artificial intelligence threats.
https://statescoop.com/nist-security-threats-ai-state-local/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
http://www.prioritiespodcast.com/

Why researchers are worried about hackable AI

On this week's Priorities podcast, Alaska’s Chief Information Officer Bill Smith talks about the challenges and successes of his state's cloud migration, which so far has included the migration of over 700 state applications from physical data centers into the cloud without interrupting service to the residents of Alaska.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
www.prioritiespodcast.com

Inside Alaska's cloud migration

On this week's Priorities podcast, Washington state Chief Information Officer Bill Kehoe says he thinks the state's recent executive order could help agencies better understand the many implications AI has for their operations.
https://statescoop.com/washington-governor-signs-ai-order-plotting-yearlong-policy-path/

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
Listen more here.
prioritiespodcast.com

Washington's AI order could boost awareness in government, CIO says

On this week’s Priorities podcast, two IT leaders from Normal, Illinois, say the future of the “smart cities” movement may be in small cities like theirs. Vasu Gadhiraju, the CIO of Normal, Illinois — a town in central Illinois with 54,000 residents — says that while the phrase “smart cities” means different things to different communities, it indicates an attempt to embrace change and innovation to solve government challenges in her city. Gadhiraju, along with project and resource manager Sara Schelinksi, outline how the city approaches their smart city and data efforts, and how they’re aiming for growth in the future.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 

If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

Why small cities need to be ‘smart’

On this week's Priorities podcast, New Jersey's Chief Innovation Officer says that digital services are a top focus for him as he steps into the role. Dave Cole, who took the helm of the state's innovation team in January, says he's also looking at how the state can incorporate generative artificial intelligence into processes to save employees time. Cole started at the state in 2020 as an innovation fellow, and has also ran for public office, worked for software company Mapbox and served in the White House under President Barack Obama.

How New Jersey's new innovation lead approaches digital services

On this week's Priorities podcast, four state chief information security officers say generative AI presents an opportunity for states to embrace an emerging technology and "really do things right."

During a panel discussion at StateScoop's Cybersecurity Modernization Summit this week, Vitaliy Panych, the CISO of California, says he's trying to overlay security controls into the entire process of how the state is embracing generative AI. California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a report on how the state will approach the technology last year.

Panych was joined on the panel by West Virginia CISO Danielle Cox, Maryland CISO Greg Rogers and Pennsylvania CISO James Sipe.

How state CISOs are thinking about generative AI

On this week's Priorities podcast, two experts from the International Association of Privacy Professionals join us to discuss what's coming down the pipeline this year in state legislatures regarding data privacy, as 17 states are currently considering at least one privacy bill in committee. 

Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, the managing director of IAPP, and Andrew Folks, IAPP's Westin Research Fellow, break down this slew of legislation, and what consumers and privacy practitioners can expect as new laws take effect in the coming weeks and months. They also discuss how the three states with comprehensive privacy laws going into effect this year —  Montana, Oregon and Texas — have been preparing for the new data regulations. 

Plus, the pair talk about Washington’s landmark My Health My Data Act, which is coming online this month and will cement the state as the first in the nation to offer broad protections for consumer health data. And lastly, the experts tell StateScoop about how upcoming privacy legislation is interacting with state level efforts to govern artificial intelligence usage.

Privacy experts on what's trending this year in state legislation

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Debbie Cox Bultan, chief executive of NewDeal, a nonprofit that works with government officials on democratic policies, joins us to discuss how state legislators and election officials are combatting AI-generated deepfakes. As states across the country race to pass legislation that targets the production of AI-generated deepfakes in an effort to curb deceptive information practices ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Bultan says tabletop exercises and public information campaigns can also help. New Deal recently released a report that advises election officials on how to mitigate disinformation campaigns in their states. 

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.

If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

How state lawmakers and election officials are fighting AI deepfakes

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Christia Hallquist, director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, and Heryn Herzog, the board’s communications and outreach manager, talk about the creation of the documentary “Connected: Vermont’s Grassroots Effort for Rural Broadband.” 

The documentary, which was released in March, explores the parallels between Vermont’s grassroot-effort to connect homes with electricity decades ago and how that spirit is still alive and well today when it comes to making fiber optic internet available to all Vermonters. Throughout the documentary, viewers hear from a wide range of residents who all rely on an internet connection at home to grow their businesses, access healthcare and education.

Vermont broadband documentary explores role of community in connectivity

Abdullah Hammoud at Google Cloud Next '24

Earlier this month, the North Carolina 911 Board, a division of the N.C. Department of Information Technology, announced the state has completed a yearslong effort to modernize its aging emergency response system to a next-generation 911 platform.

​​Next-generation 911 provides a faster, more resilient system that allows digital information — including voice, photos, videos and text messages — to flow from the public to first responders.

North Carolina’s project to upgrade to next-generation 911 started nearly a decade ago, when a proof of concept in 2015 outlined the transition away from the state’s decades-old copper-wire system. 

Pokey Harris, executive director of the North Carolina 911 Board spoke to StateScoop about how North Carolina’s 124 emergency call centers that receive funding from the state board are now part of the state’s next-generation 911 network.

North Carolina completes transition to next-generation 911

On this week’s Priorities podcast, StateScoop’s editorial staff share what they’ve learned in recent weeks while reporting on data privacy, broadband and other state government IT news. A South Carolina Senate finance subcommittee issued a report claiming that the state’s treasurer, Curtis Loftis, risked a cyberattack by claiming that he would post detailed information about the state’s finances online. StateScoop’s Skylar Rispens joins to break down that story and the current status of federal broadband funding. Several new generative AI laws activate in Utah next week, including one closing a loophole for using AI to commit crimes. StateScoop’s Keely Quinlan joins to review the American Privacy Rights Act and a new report from the Open Technology Institute critiquing states’ online age verification laws.

Contracting controversy, new AI laws, data privacy concerns in 2024

On this week's Priorities Podcast, we're joined by Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and former Congressman Jim Langevin to discuss the state's new artificial intelligence task force, which was created by an executive order signed in March and chaired by Langevin. "There's two sides of this coin — there is a really positive side of the AI, and there's a potentially damaging side of AI. So we have to get ahead of it on security reasons," McKee says. 

The governor also discusses the traits he hopes the state's new chief data officer will have, a role that was also created by the executive order, and what he hopes the new task force will accomplish in the next six months.

Rhode Island governor on the future of state's AI task force

John Toney, Vermont's new chief information security officer, starts his day with threat intelligence briefs — reading, watching or listening to the latest cybersecurity news.

Toney, a former Secret Service special agent, joined Vermont's Agency of Digital Services last month, at a time when more sophisticated cyberattacks against state and local governments across the United States are on the rise, especially from foreign cybercriminals targeting critical infrastructure in rural communities, such as water facilities.

This week, Toney spoke with StateScoop reporter Sophia Fox-Sowell about some of the projects he's working on, including compliance and procurement. He also emphasized the importance of staying up to date with threat intelligence news and the need for proactive measures to address these growing cyber threats, including identifying vulnerabilities with regular scans, improving security protocols, and reducing operational redundancies through automation.

Vermont’s new CISO shares his proactive approach to cyber

State CIOs are continuing their cautious embrace of generative artificial intelligence, along with all the opportunities and challenges it brings to government operations. On this week's Priorities podcast, two state chief information officers share updates on their latest efforts to improve their IT organizations, speaking from the midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, early this month, hosted by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Indiana CIO Tracy Barnes shares how he’s thinking about AI, cybersecurity and policy improvements. Later, Texas CIO Amanda Crawford shares how data literacy is a key part of her state's embrace of generative AI.

Indiana and Texas’ foray into the deeper embrace of AI

Each week, the Priorities Podcast will take you through the latest in state and local government technology news and analysis. The program will explore trending stories throughout the week, as well as feature conversations with top executives across government and industry on things like modernization, emerging technology and digital services.

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