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- The governor would be tasked with appointing both the CIO and the executive director of the new agency.
The Senate Government Structure Committee advanced two bills last week aimed at increasing the state’s cybersecurity against hackers.
The committee passed amended versions of SB 2625 and SB 2636, after unanimously voting to add reverse repealers to the measures to allow further work on the bills.
Bill 2625 mandates that the governor, with advice and consent from the Senate, appoint a Chief Information Officer at the cabinet level. The CIO will serve at the governor’s pleasure.
Among the CIO responsibilities would be assisting in the protection of the state’s information assets and citizens’ data, as well as advising the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services on matters of information security, cybersecurity strategies and implementation.
The bill states that the CIO will be the chief policy advisor to the governor on statewide information technology and cyber issues.
The second bill, referred to as the Mississippi Department of Cybersecurity Act, would create a cybersecurity department in state government.
If created, the new department would hold responsibility for defending and securing cyberspace by leading statewide efforts to drive and enable effective cyber defense, resilience of state critical functions, and a robust technology ecosystem in Mississippi, the bill reads.
The governor would appoint an executive director, with consent from the Senate.
During committee debate, State Senator Scott Delano (R) said the bills would help streamline and define agencies’ roles in this arena.
“We looked at a lot of different things. You’ve got a bunch of different agencies that are already doing this work. You’ve got the Attorney General’s Office that’s doing great work. You’ve got DPS. You have a lot of local officials who are doing good work, working with federal partners as well,” DeLano said. “What we’re talking about here is trying to bring those professionals together so that they can collaborate more effectively to prevent and/or to investigate cybersecurity.”
Several members of the committee expressed concern that the bill would create a new massive state department.
Committee Chairman State Senator Tyler McCaughn (R) said the goal to get “people together that we’ve got out there working in this field and put them under some leadership and some immediate direction from the governor’s office.”
“Because when an attack happens, we as the Legislature are not here and the governor’s office can be the final say on being sure that things are done to the levels they need to be,” said McCaughn.
The bills now head to the Senate Floor for consideration. If passed, the measures would then move to the House for debate.
