Quite a few states have innovation programs, mechanisms for jumpstarting new and interesting ways to improve government, but Nicholas Stowe, Washington state's outgoing chief technology officer, shares on this week’s Priorities Podcast why he thinks his state’s innovation and modernization program has enjoyed an especially favorable success rate. “We really tried to maximize reusing existing governance processes,” he says. Also on this episode is Wendy Wickstrom, web and user experience manager at Washington Technology Solutions, who shares how flipping a procurement process upside-down helped the state create what officials say is a new model for reducing risk and fostering a more connected government. “We knew we wanted agency participation, but we didn’t want to dictate every deliverable that they gave us,” she says.
This week’s top stories:
After receiving letters from the Department of Justice requesting access to state voter data, 10 Democratic secretaries of state on Tuesday drafted their own letter, citing “immense concern” with how that data might have been shared across the federal government. The secretaries write that in recent meetings with DOJ and Department of Homeland Security officials they received “misleading and at times contradictory information” on the topic of their unredacted statewide voter rolls.
The House of Representatives passed a bill by voice vote Monday evening that would reauthorize the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Enjoying bipartisan support, the Protecting Information by Local Leaders for Agency Resilience, or PILLAR, Act is now open to be considered by the Senate.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Tuesday announced it’s issued approvals to 18 states on their final proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday. For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify.
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Quite a few states have innovation programs, mechanisms for jumpstarting new and interesting ways to improve government, but Nicholas Stowe, Washington state's outgoing chief technology officer, shares on this week’s Priorities Podcast why he thinks his state’s innovation and modernization program has enjoyed an especially favorable success rate. “We really tried to maximize reusing existing governance processes,” he says. Also on this episode is Wendy Wickstrom, web and user experience manager at Washington Technology Solutions, who shares how flipping a procurement process upside-down helped the state create what officials say is a new model for reducing risk and fostering a more connected government. “We knew we wanted agency participation, but we didn’t want to dictate every deliverable that they gave us,” she says.
This week’s top stories:
After receiving letters from the Department of Justice requesting access to state voter data, 10 Democratic secretaries of state on Tuesday drafted their own letter, citing “immense concern” with how that data might have been shared across the federal government. The secretaries write that in recent meetings with DOJ and Department of Homeland Security officials they received “misleading and at times contradictory information” on the topic of their unredacted statewide voter rolls.
The House of Representatives passed a bill by voice vote Monday evening that would reauthorize the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Enjoying bipartisan support, the Protecting Information by Local Leaders for Agency Resilience, or PILLAR, Act is now open to be considered by the Senate.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Tuesday announced it’s issued approvals to 18 states on their final proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday. For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify.
How vague BEAD guidance could lead to broadband disparities
Priorities Podcast
13 minutes 27 seconds
3 months ago
How vague BEAD guidance could lead to broadband disparities
Jennifer Hickerson, a senior manager who specializes in telecommunications at the professional services firm Baker Tilly, joins the Priorities Podcast this week to explain how changes to the BEAD program are affecting the outcomes in states. Final proposal submissions from states are due next week. Each state has been a different approach to how it seeks vendors and the types of technologies it pursues. Hickerson says states that have been advertising to vendors an emphasis on lowest cost have seen more responses from satellite and fixed wireless vendors. “That message really seems to have an impact on applicants,” she says. “Those who really needed to drive down those costs in a way that was no longer sustainable started to question whether it was worth it to apply for this program. It also gave the message that some technologies might fare better in applying for the BEAD program.”
Top stories this week:
In a letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Arielle Roth, administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 10 Democrats from the House of Representatives are asking for clarification on how states can use “nondeployment” funds they are set to soon receive through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. The letter asks for clarification on how states can use their BEAD funding for projects not directly related to building out new fiber networks or installing wireless towers.
Two cybersecurity incidents disabled state services over the weekend. A service in Maryland that provides transportation to people with disabilities is unable to take new reservations. And a number of Nevada’s websites, services and phone lines, including those for the Nevada Highway Patrol and Nevada State Police, faced outages.
The Texas legislature has passed several pieces of legislation aimed at strengthening protections for young campers after devastating floods last month left more than two dozen campers and counselors dead at Camp Mystic. The legislation would create new rules pertaining to alerts, emergency plans and where camps are allowed to operate.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify.
Priorities Podcast
Quite a few states have innovation programs, mechanisms for jumpstarting new and interesting ways to improve government, but Nicholas Stowe, Washington state's outgoing chief technology officer, shares on this week’s Priorities Podcast why he thinks his state’s innovation and modernization program has enjoyed an especially favorable success rate. “We really tried to maximize reusing existing governance processes,” he says. Also on this episode is Wendy Wickstrom, web and user experience manager at Washington Technology Solutions, who shares how flipping a procurement process upside-down helped the state create what officials say is a new model for reducing risk and fostering a more connected government. “We knew we wanted agency participation, but we didn’t want to dictate every deliverable that they gave us,” she says.
This week’s top stories:
After receiving letters from the Department of Justice requesting access to state voter data, 10 Democratic secretaries of state on Tuesday drafted their own letter, citing “immense concern” with how that data might have been shared across the federal government. The secretaries write that in recent meetings with DOJ and Department of Homeland Security officials they received “misleading and at times contradictory information” on the topic of their unredacted statewide voter rolls.
The House of Representatives passed a bill by voice vote Monday evening that would reauthorize the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Enjoying bipartisan support, the Protecting Information by Local Leaders for Agency Resilience, or PILLAR, Act is now open to be considered by the Senate.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Tuesday announced it’s issued approvals to 18 states on their final proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday. For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or Spotify.
