Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

In the near future, we will introduce legislation to elevate the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Commonwealth to a cabinet level position. The CIO of the Commonwealth has the overall responsibility for the management and operation of IT services for all executive agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. The CIO is responsible for a massive amount of data that is incredibly important to every resident of this commonwealth. This data contains Pennsylvanians birth and death records, individual tax information, health records, election information, and so much more. When this data is compromised in anyway, state agencies cannot function and there is a risk of personal or government information being lost, compromised or getting into the wrong hands.
  

State governments and their CIOs must adapt to quickly evolving technology, disruptive forces, and a new generation of customers. Across the 50 states, more than 50% of state CIOs are considered a Cabinet-level position and also have authority over a department, office, or agency solely responsible for IT services. This means, a department completely dedicated to IT. By giving the CIO the autonomy to make those decisions, to react to situations as quickly as possible, and to implement certain protocols or systems independently, will enable other agencies, departments, commissions, and ultimately the state for success when it comes to our IT.  
 

With too much governmental bureaucracy and red tape, such as reporting up to a chain of command, it can be impossible for the CIO to act quickly and efficiently. This opens the entire state up to more risk of harm and prevents the commonwealth from being able to quickly change to evolving technologies.  
 

Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation.