A Simple Way to Make the Suicide Hotline More Effective The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides comprehensive support for Americans who face acute mental health challenges. Congress is considering ways to tailor services more strategically. READ MORE
AI as a Stress Test for Government Data The rise of generative artificial intelligence is a stress test for data governance and management. And an opportunity for data stewards to shine. READ MORE
AI Places New Demands on Government-Held Data, But It Is Still the Data That Counts The rise of generative artificial intelligence is a stress test for data governance and management, and an opportunity for data stewards to shine. READ MORE
AI-Infused Software Looks to Quicken Police Report Writing A new tool from public safety tech supplier Axon can automatically transcribe audio from the company’s body cameras. Arriving as law enforcement nationwide confronts a hiring crisis, it could free up officers for other duties. READ MORE
Are We Ready for a Cyber Attack on Food and Farming? Authorities are working to prepare for one by, for the first time, conducting a massive federal tabletop exercise focused on food and agriculture cybersecurity resilience. READ MORE
AVs May Not Have Taken Over, but Their Tech Is Here to Stay Urban technologists at the recent 2024 Bipartisan Tech Policy Conference discussed the various ways emerging tech like autonomous vehicles have evolved. READ MORE
Best Practices For Strengthening Mobility and Connectivity With A Public-private Approach For agencies focused on service delivery, getting the right connectivity approach in place is essential to meet current and future demands of public service. LEARN MORE
Colorado Tech Office Plucks New COO from Private Sector The Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology on Monday announced the appointment of Sridevi Ramaswamy as chief operations officer. She has more than two decades’ private-sector experience and this is her first government role. READ MORE
Congress Asks How to Prevent Another Change Healthcare Crisis After a ransomware attack recently caused major issues for medical providers as well as their patients, lawmakers are looking for policy moves that can protect against a repeat. READ MORE
Congressional Framework Would Address Extreme AI Risks A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a congressional framework, in a letter to Senate artificial intelligence working group leaders, that would establish federal oversight on extreme risks related to AI. READ MORE
Cyber Attack Shutters New York State Bill Office As suspected Wednesday, bad actors are to blame for taking computers in the state’s Bill Drafting Commission offline. The incident is further delaying production of the already-late state budget. READ MORE
Double-Parked? Hayden AI’s New Platform Will Find You The San Francisco company has released a new tool aimed at helping make streets safer for bicyclists and buses. It relies on visual artificial intelligence and cameras mounted on buses. READ MORE
DWI Arrestees: Unexpected Partners in Public Safety Innovation With driving while intoxicated arrests rising, Minnesota is turning to tech for solutions. The state is piloting cutting-edge roadside drug testing devices with unexpected participants: people arrested for DWI. READ MORE
Feds Help Shreveport, La., and Las Vegas Modernize Transit Combined, the cities received nearly $1.5 million in grants through a U.S. Department of Transportation program. They will use it to maintain and plan the expansion of zero-emissions vehicles, and to enhance pedestrian safety. READ MORE
Florida Ethics Commission Waives Fine for Its Own Member Ethics Commissioner Freddie Figgers didn’t submit his 2021 financial disclosure statement until the day after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the Ethics Commission. The commission voted 4-1 to waive the $1,500 fine. READ MORE
Four Stages of Communications for a Successful Government Customer Experience This guide outlines four critical communication stages that best enable government to communicate with customers and improve outreach, enrollment and engagement around public services. DOWNLOAD
From Legacy to Leading Edge: Butte County's Modernization Journey This case study details how Butte County, California, modernized its 35-year-old legacy system for payroll, timekeeping, accounting, and benefits management. DOWNLOAD
Georgia Police Use Artificial Intelligence to Solve Cases The Warner Robins Police Department is using software to aggregate information that could help it close criminal cases. It is a help to the department, which does not have a cyber crime division. READ MORE
Hispanics Make Up Nearly Half the Nation’s Uninsured A variety of factors make Latinos less likely to have health insurance, including language barriers, types of occupations and immigration status. Coverage problems extend well beyond undocumented individuals. READ MORE
How a Modular Business Solutions Strategy Addresses Workforce Gaps State and local governments face ongoing workforce challenges, including budget constraints and difficulty competing with the private sector. Often, antiquated technology and outdated processes make it even harder to attract and retain new employees. READ MORE
How California Governor’s Budget Shortfall Action Impacts IT Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday on an early action budget agreement among legislative leaders that will cut the shortfall by about $17.3 billion — and return millions for tech to the general fund. READ MORE
How Procurement Can Support IT Sustainability Energy consumption has become an important concern for both environmental impact and cost controls as governments store more data, use more applications and create more digital services. DOWNLOAD
How to Tackle Cyber Crime Ecosystems, Teen Extortionists At an event held by the Institute for Security and Technology, experts discussed why simply arresting ransomware developers isn’t enough to effectively combat this cybersecurity problem. READ MORE
How Will the Advent of GenAI Impact State IT Workforces? A new report from NASCIO explores the impact that generative artificial intelligence will have on state government tech employees, as states move independently with regulation and implementation. READ MORE
Insights for Faster Incident Response Transit agencies are flooded with real-time data from social media feeds, sensor alerts and more. Event detection platforms help them find the most relevant information and take action. DOWNLOAD
Keeping Food Scraps Out of Landfills Is a Bigger Problem Than You Think Organic waste in landfills is a major source of methane emissions. Orange County, Calif., is making progress in diverting it. READ MORE
Legislation Would Allow NYC to Set Its Own Speed Limits Currently, the state controls the local speed limits but a proposal folded into the state budget would change that. The current speed limit in New York City was set in 2014, the first citywide reduction in a half-century. READ MORE
Millions Could Soon Lose Internet Access if Program Expires The Affordable Connectivity Program, which was created after the pandemic forced many Americans to turn to the Internet to connect with work and school, has 23 million enrollees nationwide. READ MORE
New Mexico to Consider Sanctuary City Ban in Special Session Though Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said she wants to keep the July special session narrowly focused on public safety, a group of Republican state senators has proposed packages that aim to secure a porous border. READ MORE
Opinion: Massachusetts Has a Groundbreaking Cybersecurity Network CyberTrust Massachusetts is launching new cyber assessment and monitoring services, which will give the state's cities and towns access to new capabilities to help reverse the trend of escalating cyber attacks. READ MORE
Oregon Obscures Effectiveness of Paid Leave Program A public dashboard shows only some of the numbers pertaining to the state’s family and medical leave program that launched in September, furthering distrust in a system that has already faced a variety of issues. READ MORE
Overflowing Water Tank Linked to Russian Cyber Attack A report released Wednesday connects a Texas cyber attack to hacker groups with Russian government ties, per CNN. The incident, in January, caused no injuries and did not affect drinking water. READ MORE
Philly’s Plan to End Open-Air Drug Market Part of Larger Crime Crackdown Earlier this month, Mayor Cherelle Parker announced her administration’s plan to end the Kensington neighborhood’s open-air drug markets by arresting people for low-level offenses that the city hadn’t targeted in years. READ MORE
Quick Survey on AI What information about generative AI would be most helpful to you? Please take our 5-minute survey and shape content and data from the Center for Public Sector AI. Take Survey Now
Red States Push Back Against Income Payments to Residents Republicans in at least six states are looking to ban basic income programs as Democrats seek to expand the no-strings-attached payments. Some state lawmakers are seeking to ban local communities from enacting similar programs. READ MORE
Review: ‘Artificial Intelligence — A Primer for State and Local Governments’ A new book by Alan Shark offers an excellent guide and an AI road map for state and local governments. He answers basic questions that public-sector leaders are asking in 2024. READ MORE
Shouldn’t Access to Healthy Food Be Considered a Human Right? It’s a problem in urban and rural areas alike, but the greatest impact is in cities where it amounts to “food apartheid.” Our best chance of solving it is to get our communities engaged in creating solutions. READ MORE
St. Paul Revisits Snow Emergencies After Two Extreme Winters This year’s relatively snowless winter followed the record-setting season last year, when 93 inches of snow fell onto the city. The city budgets based on average snowfall, but the average is changing, forcing officials to revisit plans. READ MORE
Starting Smart with Generative AI Generative AI can transform government by enhancing operational efficiency and the constituent experience. READ MORE
State Government Guide to Managing Grants To ensure your state is best managing grant dollars received and allocated, check out this guide for some best practices that address the most common challenges states face. DOWNLOAD
States Consider Mandating AI Labels for Political Ads After more than 20,000 voters in New Hampshire received a deepfake phone call asking them to skip the state’s January primary, at least 39 states are considering measures to ensure transparency of artificial intelligence used in political ads. READ MORE
Staying Agile in the Changing World of Government Social Media At the 2024 Government Social Media Conference, officials shared their insight on how to operate in the changing landscape of social media. They also discussed what to expect as AI comes onto the scene. READ MORE
The Key to Attracting Public Workers? Pay, Not Pensions. Research shows that traditional defined-benefit retirement plans aren’t a path to improved recruitment or retention. When it comes to younger workers in particular, policymakers need to accept the new reality. READ MORE
The Nonexistent Link Between Mailed Ballots and Voter Fraud Election deniers may not believe it, but the most extensive national study, covering 20 years of data, showed that illegal voting is exceptionally rare. READ MORE
The Troubling Proliferation of Universal Basic Income Programs A lot of communities are experimenting with this costly, ineffective approach to fighting poverty that disincentivizes work. Iowa lawmakers are right to ban localities from creating guaranteed income programs. READ MORE
Three State Leaders Offer AI Governance Strategies Artificial intelligence and data leaders from Georgia, Maryland and Vermont shared their perspectives on successful AI governance in a GOVChats panel discussion. The environment, they said, is still in development. READ MORE
Tips for Overcoming IT Resource Drain in the Public Sector Here are five things you can do to help eliminate IT resource drain within your organization and provide improved IT service to employees and citizens. READ MORE
Tribal Communities Await Federal Cybersecurity Grants The federal government is slated to distribute $18.2 million of Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program funds as soon as the spring, and experts say the funds will help address important needs. READ MORE
Two New Justices Make Minnesota Supreme Court Majority Women Gov. Tim Walz appointed Theodora Gaïtas and Sarah Hennesy to the state’s highest court on Monday. When Gaïtas and Hennesy join the court, Walz will have selected four of the seven justices. READ MORE
What’s New in Digital Equity: NTIA Accepts Digital Equity Plans for All 50 States Plus, new legislation aims to increase digital skills training opportunities, two Ohio initiatives aim to increase digital equity, a new grant program for digital services was announced in Colorado, and more. READ MORE
With the ACP Winding Down, Advocates Tout Its Value April is the last month of full funding for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, which helps subsidize monthly Internet service for low-income households. Advocates hope it will be reauthorized. READ MORE