House panel supports bill to improve cybersecurity for local governments

A bill to help protect local governments from cybersecurity threats cleared its final Committee stop and is ready for the full House vote.

“We know how slow government procurement can go. But I think with the changes that we’re making to this legislation, we can hopefully get that money out the door faster and have good protection from cyber security software for our local government,” said Rep. Monique Miller, a Palm Bay Republican sponsoring the bill. Miller also works as an information technology and cybersecurity executive.

Miller presented the bill (HB 1085) before the House State Affairs Committee. Under the legislation, the University of South Florida would be the home of the new Local Government Cybersecurity Protection Program. USF’s Florida Center for Cybersecurity would administer the program.

“Under the grant program, the Florida Center for Cybersecurity shall enter into data-sharing agreements with local governments and the Florida Digital Service necessary to facilitate the collection, analysis, and exchange of security-related information to support the detection, prevention, and response to cybersecurity incidents,” the bill says. 

The Florida Center for Cybersecurity would administer grants to help local governments develop and strengthen their cybersecurity risk management programs. Counties struggling financially would get first dibs on the grants, the bill says.

In addition, local governments that don’t win grants could buy information technology commodities and services from the contracts managed by the Florida Center for Cybersecurity.

The Florida Center for Cybersecurity would be required to account for the grants and report back.

A House staff analysis from earlier in the month warned that “the bill may have a significant negative fiscal impact on state government if additional state funding is requested,” and added it was unknown if federal grants could help run the program.

“The overall fiscal impact is indeterminate,” the House staff analysis said.

Florida State University had originally been tapped for the Local Government Cybersecurity Protection Program, but the bill was amended Thursday to make it USF instead.

Lawmakers applauded her efforts on the bill.

“Oftentimes, state government houses very sensitive data,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. “If one of our partners at a local level is not maintaining the best quality security software updates or they don’t have the money to do so, it puts the entire state at risk.”

The Senate companion bill (SB 576) is set to be heard Monday at its final Committee stop in Senate Appropriations.