State Government

California's tech companies, the epicenter of the state's economy, sent politicians a loud message this year: Back down from restrictive artificial intelligence regulation or they'll leave.

A bill proposed by state representatives would empower the Attorney General to investigate, issue cease-and-desist orders and seek civil penalties against AI companies of up to $50,000 per violation.

As state and local agencies worry about cybersecurity budget cuts and increased attacks, public officials and researchers try to build a network to boost digital defenses. Leaders of the effort discuss their aims.

The AI Readiness Project is an endeavor intended to help states, territories, and tribal governments build their capacity to use AI responsibly through convenings, knowledge sharing and pilots.

The state is in procurement on a new GoHawaii app, intended to integrate agricultural declarations and tourism questions. Hawaii recently marked the 75th anniversary of its in-flight visitor survey.

The Cooperative Agreement for Artificial Intelligence Advising Services enables collaboration between the state and the University of Pennsylvania, with the latter advising the government on AI.

The 2025 Massachusetts AI Models program doled out seven grants, including five to university-led artificial intelligence research projects in manufacturing, energy and climate resilience.

A recent Amazon Web Services report points to continued global cloud growth across sectors, with security, compliance and cost ranking among the key factors shaping adoption.

An additional layer of tech is helping the state’s Employment Development Department, targeted by fraudsters during the COVID-19 pandemic, smooth out identity verification and make defenses harder to penetrate.

Hawaii’s Christine Sakuda has been on the job for just more than a year, and during the recent NASCIO conference, she talked about opportunities, budget worries and potentially reduced services.

Officials have extended the availability of Google’s Gemini platform to nearly 43,000 state employees. So far, around 12,500 are actively using its generative AI features in government work.

A cut to federal food assistance is looming, but residents have been struggling with the program for months. A cyber attack in July targeted a phone system that lets people call about their account information.

As the invasive insect spreads, putting plant populations like grapevines and their related industries at risk, governments at all levels are using technology like drones and GIS to monitor the issue.

The state has created a modernized process for getting regulations, economic impact statements and environmental benefit statements published to its administrative regulation website and to the Kansas Register.

Speaking at the recent NASCIO conference, Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron struck optimistic notes about the technology. He views it as a tool that can put new capabilities in the hands of more government workers.

Drivers in the Grand Canyon State should soon have access to dozens more high-speed electric vehicle charging ports, with most of the funding coming from the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.

Residents can now store digital driver’s licenses and state ID cards on their Apple devices. The app can be used at most Transportation Security Administration checkpoints nationwide.

The North Dakota Information Technology Department uses a steering committee together with an internal dashboard to prioritize modernization decisions in a transparent, easy-to-track way.