Policy
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Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office in January, wants more public safety tools to protect stops and stations, and a better user experience. She has ordered officials to come up with a plan. -
Making sure that regular utility customers don’t get stuck bearing the burden of paying to run data centers is a main goal as state regulators consider the impacts of the energy-intensive facilities.
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Members of the House passed a bill requiring data centers to pay for increased costs associated with their energy demands. The proposed legislation now heads to the state Senate.
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The use of facial recognition technology is being debated in communities across the country, including in Massachusetts, where some local officials have taken regulating the technology upon themselves.
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With cyberthreats growing, staffing the West Virginia Office of Technology is more important than ever. Comparatively low pay and better opportunities in the private sector contribute to the vacancies.
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A proposal from Gov. Charlie Baker would change public disclosure rules. Unless the records belong to an individual, their family or a state or municipal clerk, anyone seeking them would need a court order.
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A number of bills have been introduced that seek to transform the relationship between the state's consumers, data brokers and large tech companies, but lawmakers don't necessarily agree on the legislative fine print.
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Plus, Philadelphia has launched an open data survey; Missouri has built a new website to centralize state government job postings; Pew creates an interactive state debt comparison tool; and more.
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Two bills under consideration would make it easier for electric co-ops to build fiber networks. The legislation would also enable telecom companies to use co-op infrastructure to extend high-speed Internet.
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With political ads accelerating, Maine lawmakers are considering legislation to ban “deepfake” video tech. Those who support the initiative insist on its validity, saying it can manipulate and falsely lead voters.
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Amid pushback related to data-gathering sensors on thousands of local high-tech street lights, a San Diego city committee will get its first look at a potential policy governing how all that data is accessed and used.
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City officials voted this week to begin drafting a new general employee headcount tax that could bring in as much as $10 million annually. Mountain View recently implemented a similar business-focused tax.
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The bill comes on the heels of a new broadband plan developed by the ConnectME Authority earlier this month. Under the proposal, the money would come from the state’s general fund.
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With an unexpected $818 million of extra tax revenue headed their way, Wisconsin legislators are contemplating what to do with this new windfall, and one of the ideas under discussion is broadband expansion.
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The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's performance report complained about the lack of a comprehensive service catalog and poor project tracking, but the state CIO said the audit didn't capture all that the department does.
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A $362,087 federal grant from the United States Department of Agriculture will be used to implement telehealth and remote patient technology throughout a six-county health coverage area in rural Tennessee.
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Speaking at a recent business summit, the Missouri House speaker said it made sense to build a tube capable of sending people across the state in a half hour, assuming the technology works as promised.
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As lawmakers in Oklahoma consider regulating drones at the state level when they return to session next month, the proposed legislation in question is based on North Carolina’s own regulation of drones.
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All California state departments are being mandated to record every sexual harassment and discrimination claim in a new centralized system. Until now, the state did not have a tool that could track sexual harassment allegations.
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A consultant was hired by county officials last August on the heels of an April 2019 ransomware attack that triggered a series of vast system outages. That plan is expected during the first quarter.
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The Center of Ethics, Society and Computing has been unveiled by the University of Michigan, with a mission to intervene when digital media and tech replicate inequality, exclusion, deception, racism or sexism.
