A Look at San Francisco’s AI Rules for City Workers The guidelines direct city employees to fact check AI-generated content and disclose when they use the technology, which can write and summarize emails and other documents as well as generate images and videos. READ MORE
A Smarter Way to Improve Business Systems
Addressing Today's Synthetic Opioid Epidemic
AI Elections Initiative Launched by Aspen Digital This new AI Elections Initiative, launched this week by the Aspen Institute's Aspen Digital program, seeks to strengthen U.S. election resilience against the evolving risks posed by generative AI tools. READ MORE
Bay Area Lawmaker Proposes E-Bike Restrictions for Minors
Can AI Alleviate California Traffic? Caltrans Thinks So The California Department of Transportation, teaming up with other state agencies, is asking technology companies to propose generative AI tools that could help reduce traffic and make roads safer. READ MORE
CIOs Sound Off: What Makes a Vendor a Good Partner? The relationship between government agencies and the companies they work with is key to successful outcomes for IT projects, so we asked state and local CIOs what they look for in a partner. READ MORE
Cities Turn to Data to Improve Urban Traffic and Transit Gov tech companies offering tools to help local governments learn more about how people get from point A to point B are focusing on how data and analytics can inform better transportation policy. READ MORE
Connecticut Firefighters’ No. 1 Killer: Cancer from Their Own Gear The polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals that help make firefighting gear so protective. But they also produce an increased risk of exposure to carcinogens. READ MORE
Connecting First Responders with Mental Health Expertise
COVID Is Raging Again. Why Are We Still Playing Make Believe? We’re now experiencing the second-biggest wave of infections since omicron. Yet we cling to complacency and the false belief that the virus will burn out and go away. READ MORE
Criminal PR. Cyber company Sophos examines how some ransomware gangs seek out media attention – including with press releases and journalist FAQs and communication channels.
Cross-Agency Planning Key to Cybersecurity in San Francisco CISO Michael Makstman explains what it takes to secure San Francisco, how the city is approaching generative AI and the importance of sharing information in the Coalition of City CISOs. READ MORE
Dallas Cyber Attack More Extensive Than First Thought
DataNet Systems' breach. The company is notifying impacted D.C. voters whose details – like names, emails and partial Social Security Numbers – may have been exposed in an Oct. 2023 breach.
Digital Tools See Major Uptake in Justice and Public Safety From location mapping for first responders to automated court transcriptions, justice and public safety is a hot spot for companies serving the state and local government market. READ MORE
Disaster
Zone Podcast: Regional Emergency Management Coordinators
Providing for better state to local support and connections. READ
MORE
Dismantle the Teacher Accreditation Cartel The people least prepared to teach are education majors. K-12 schools should be freed to hire based on subject-matter expertise. READ MORE
Empowering First Responders to Stay Connected
Exploiting AI. NIST's new publication lays out ways attackers might poison, confuse and otherwise cause AI systems to malfunction.
For Public Finance, a Year for Stability and Cautious Optimism READ MORE
Four Lessons from 2023 Point to Future of AI In the United States and elsewhere, 2023 was a blockbuster year for artificial intelligence and the regulation of evolving technology, and this next year is guaranteed to bring even more action. READ MORE
Four-Day School Week Faces Scrutiny from Missouri Officials The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education finds little to no learning loss after the switch to a four-day week. READ MORE
Georgia Voting Machine Questions Head to Trial
GT Magazine: The January/February Issue Sparking Investment: Private equity takes stock of gov tech. READ MORE
Guaranteed-Income Programs Pick Up Steam READ MORE
How Insurance Companies Contribute to the Nation’s Mental Health Crisis From “ghost networks” to denial of doctor-prescribed care, insurance companies put too many obstacles in the way of people who need help. State policymakers need to take action, and voters will support them. READ MORE
How telehealth and analytics are changing public health
How to Process Government Documents Smarter and Faster
How Will Copyright Law and Plagiarism Change in the Age of GenAI? With the modern Internet, it’s easier than ever before to learn from, imitate and even plagiarize other people’s work. So how will new generative AI tools change our media landscape in 2024 and beyond? READ MORE
How Will Copyright Law and Plagiarism Change in the Age of GenAI? With the modern Internet, it’s easier than ever before to learn from, imitate and even plagiarize other people’s work. So how will new generative AI tools change our media landscape in 2024 and beyond? READ MORE
Improving the Constituent Experience to Rebuild Public Trust
Inside Massachusetts' Proposed State IT Funding Plan The bill as currently written would maintain funding for tech modernization and single sign-on projects while also putting aside money for potential AI work in the future. READ MORE
Internet Trade Group Files Lawsuit Over Ohio Social Media Law
L.A. Is on a Mission to Electrify Transportation By the 2028 Olympics The second-largest metro region in the nation aims to become a clean transportation leader ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The action plan calls for even more charging infrastructure investment among other things. READ MORE
Las
Vegas Transit Upgrades Fare Payment to Tap-and-Pay
The upgrade makes it easier for residents and tourists to pay for transit
service in the region. The new payment system now works with major credit
cards, freeing them from downloading an app or buying a paper ticket. READ
MORE
Latah County, Idaho, Makes Rural Broadband Plans Official
Making the Connection: Transit Turns to Real-Time Tech The Routing Company has partnered with Swiftly to bring real-time transit vehicle location feeds into its trip-planning app to ensure reliable connections with other transit providers. READ MORE
Market for Disaster Management Tools Expands to Meet Need
Marketplace: Gov Tech Firms Bring Expertise to Public Agencies The companies serving the gov tech market offer tools tailored for the public sector's unique needs. From justice and public safety to health and human services, these are some of the areas seeing major growth. READ MORE
Maryland and Pennsylvania are making big AI moves
Maryland Governor Wes Moore Unveils Sweeping Technology Initiative Plans to overhaul IT services in the state include new AI regulations; policies ensuring ease of access to state platforms; a collaborative approach to cybersecurity; and a new office dedicated to user-centric digital innovations. READ MORE
Mental Health Courts Struggle to Keep Up With Their Promise The country’s first mental health court was established in Broward County, Fla., in 1997. By 2022, there were more than 650. However, some experts are concerned about their effectiveness in actually helping those in need. READ MORE
Nebraska
CIO Ed Toner Announces Retirement. After nearly a decade of service with
the state of Nebraska, Chief
Information Officer Ed Toner will be leaving state government in February for
retirement. A search for his replacement is in the works. READ
MORE
New Tablets to Streamline Poll Work in Keene, N.H.
New York Prepares Another Push to Promote Housing Last year, New York state lawmakers considered a package of mandates with a goal of 800,000 more units. After that deal fell apart, this year's model will be less ambitious. READ MORE
Observability Tech Helps Agencies Manage Complex IT Environments
Offerings from companies like Lyssn and Biobot Analytics have the potential to majorly change not only how people access physical and mental health services, but how government responds to those needs. READ MORE
Official: Russian-Based Group Behind Cyber Attack on Kansas Courts
Ohio City Still Grappling With Effects of Cyber Attack
Oklahoma Task Force Recommends Implementing Per-Mile Road Tax Drivers could potentially pay per mile driven. The state transportation department predicts fuel tax revenues will decline by 2030 and drop by half by 2050. READ MORE
Oregon City Using Behavioral Analysis to Halt Cyber Attacks When Keizer, Ore., was hit by ransomware in 2020, part of the data that was encrypted was police electronic evidence. The city is beefing up its defenses to help stop the same thing from happening again. READ MORE
Pennsylvania Announces GenAI Pilot for State Employees The state of Pennsylvania has announced a partnership with OpenAI to pilot generative AI tools for state employees. The pilot aims to guide responsible future use and development of the tools in the public space. READ MORE
Phishing, Disinformation Top 2024 Election Security Concerns A new study finds those areas are high on the list of election-related cybersecurity concerns, but public awareness campaigns, training for staff, tabletop exercises and free security tools can all help. READ MORE
Protect Critical Infrastructure with Asset Management
Putting Generative AI to Work for Government
Round up of industry best practices on topics such as security, threats, and privacy assembled by GOVTECH CYBERSECURITY. See how companies are helping state and local agencies tackle and prepare for all things cybersecurity. NEWS, CONVERSATIONS AND RESOURCES
Safeguarding Democracy from Artificial Intelligence READ MORE
School Bus Safety Firm BusPatrol Raises PE Investment The capital, from GI Partners, stands as the latest example of growing private equity interest in gov tech. BusPatrol’s cameras, AI and other tools catch drivers trying to drive around stopped school buses. READ MORE
SD-WAN: The Network Foundation for the Future
Seamless and Secure Modernization for Governments
Smart City Tech Focuses on Efficiency, Safety, Privacy Tools like smart streetlights help cities understand what's going on at the ground level, but as solutions advance, officials say they should be easy to stand up and keep public privacy top of mind. READ MORE
Smart City Tech Is Evolving to Include Sustainability Features As cities develop microgrids for energy resiliency and increase the adoption of electric vehicles, they are increasingly turning to smart city technologies to enable these transitions. READ MORE
Smarter Transportation Systems
Some Dallas Area Businesses Suffering from Internet Outage
South Carolina’s Backlog of Criminal Cases May Soon See Resolution The Legislature granted solicitors and public defenders the most funding ever last year to hire additional staff, while the state Supreme Court, for the first time, issued a concise order on how to manage the criminal court docket. READ MORE
SpaceX Rival Preps New Vulcan Rocket for Launch
Sparking Investment: The Gov Tech Market Grows in 2024
Special: Securing America's Digital Infrastructure
States Begin Tapping Medicaid Dollars to Combat Gun Violence So far, seven states have passed laws approving the use of Medicaid funds to pay for community-based programs intended to stop shootings. But unlocking the funds is complicated and it's unclear how much money will actually be diverted. READ MORE
Tampa's CIO and CTO Steps Down After 12 Years of Service During his tenure, he oversaw 128 employees within the city’s Technology and Innovation Department, along with a $27 million accelerated applications and infrastructure portfolio replacement. READ MORE
Telehealth, Analytics Tools Impact the Work of Public Health
2024 GT100: Our 9th Annual List of Who's Who in Gov Tech Our annual look at the top 100 companies serving state and local government IT tracks the rise of private equity investment in the market, poised for continued growth in 2024. READ MORE
The Group Giving Arizona Local Government a Hand With AI Experts across the greater Phoenix region recently came together for a workshop hosted by the local consortium, The Connective, that provides resources to help local government understand the risks and rewards of AI. READ MORE
The Power of Simple for Government
The Top 24 Security Predictions for 2024 (Part 1) Where next for cyber in 2024? Here’s your annual roundup of cybersecurity forecasts, top cyber trends and cybersecurity industry prediction reports as we head into calendar year 2024. READ MORE
The Top 24 Security Predictions for 2024 (Part 2) Where next for cyber in 2024? Here’s part two of your annual roundup of cybersecurity forecasts, top cyber trends and cybersecurity industry prediction reports as we head into calendar year 2024. READ MORE
These Six Texas Industries Suffered Hacks in 2023
Three Steps to Pave the Way for the EV Revolution READ MORE
Trends Shaping the Future of Public Sector Digital Service
Trends Shaping the Future of Public Sector Digital Service
U.S. Preps for Its First Moon Landing in Decades
What will generative AI mean for copyright law?
What’s It Like to Be the Victim of Cyber Crimes? A pair of new studies take an in-depth look at the experiences of residents and businesses in Virginia who have fallen victim to cyber crimes, hoping the findings can inform strong cybersecurity moving forward. READ MORE
What’s New in Digital Equity: Federal Lawmakers Introduce ACP Extension Plus, a new fact sheet from the FCC looks at the future of the ACP; California launches a website to track infrastructure investment; the White House puts $80 million toward wireless innovation; and more. READ MORE
Where Are the Workers? Last Month, 27% of Hawaii Civil Service Positions Were Vacant Traditionally, Hawaii residents have eagerly applied for safe government jobs but particularly difficult-to-fill jobs now have vacancy rates of 40 percent. READ MORE
Why Cities Are Turning to Climate Change Dashboards As the world gets hotter, technology offers governments a fresh way to track emissions and the progress of officials in meeting climate goals. What benefits do these dashboards offer, and how are cities using them? READ MORE
Why Transportation Agencies Need Zero-Trust Security
Willmar, Minn., Nears Construction on Broadband Project
Wind Farms and Carbon Capture Compete for Louisiana’s Coast Both industries want to utilize the state’s offshore property for multimillion-dollar projects. It’s unlikely the two can coexist. READ MORE