The House Committee on Technology and Infrastructure convened at 1 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 28 in 215-E to consider four pieces of legislation. One House Bill was advanced, one House Concurrent Resolution was advanced, and two pieces of legislation were tabled during this meeting.
House Bill 2070 is a bill that would make it legal for motorcyclists in the state of West Virginia over the age of 21 to ride or be passengers on motorcycles without a helmet and face no repercussions. This bill, which generated a lot of discussion at the last House Tech and Infrastructure Committee meeting, was tabled until the next meeting.
House Bill 2452 would establish a cyber security framework within certain state agencies. This bill would allow the West Virginia Office of Technology to establish a Cybersecurity Office within their department to facilitate a software program to strengthen the cyber security checks within state agency devices. This bill would be applied to all state agencies except for institutions of higher education, the county board of education, the WV Legislature, and the WV Judiciary. Agencies would be subject to cyber security risk assessment, adherence to enterprise standards, and plans of action in the event of a cyber-attack.
Joshua Spence, the Chief Technology Officer for the West Virginia Office of Technology, was present to answer questions the committee had pertaining to the legislation.
Spence stated that House Bill 2452 would require an upfront cost of $4.2 million in order to hire consultants and purchase the necessary software, but the cost of the agencies addressing the threats to their devices must be absorbed by the agencies.
When questioned about the need for a centralized entity for a WV Cybersecurity Office, Spence stated that there was “a need for a central body to drive the discussion on cyber threats” and that “one information system could have hundreds or even thousands of threats to one device”.
Spence pointed to the recent example of South Carolina, a victim of a major cybersecurity attack in 2012, that ended up costing the state $14 million. Spence stated urgency to address the gaps in the way West Virginia’s cyber infrastructure is currently reviewed.
“The threat is here now,” Spence said. “We have the department; this just gives us more functionality.”
Delegate Daniel Linville (R-Cabell) proposed an amendment to House Bill 2452, which would make several technical changes as well as subject the WV Cybersecurity Office to yearly progress reports to be submitted to the WV Legislature. This amendment was adopted by the committee unanimously.
House Bill 2452 was ultimately advanced to the House Floor with the recommendation that it do pass, but it first be referred to the House Committee on Government Organization.
The second piece of legislation to be considered was House Concurrent Resolution 8, which would facilitate an engineering study for a cost-benefit analysis. This is a resolution that would request the WV Division of Highway to conduct an engineering study on the extension of a WV highway on WV Route 9, bypassing the town of Hedgesville.
An amendment proposed by Delegate Gary Howell (R-Mineral) would connect the proposed road to Route 220. Howell’s amendment passed unanimously.
House Concurrent Resolution 8 was advanced by the Technology and Infrastructure Committee to the House Rules Committee.
The fourth item on the agenda, House Bill 2539, was tabled until the next House Technology and Infrastructure Committee meeting.
