Today the MN Senate Committee for State and Local Government met to discussion SF379: State-funded county and city cybersecurity grant program establishment. Bill is laid over for possible inclusion.

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More info:

Info on the bill:

• S.F. 0379Wiklund

State-funded county and city cybersecurity grant program establishment

Testifiers: – Amy Middendorf, IT Director, Morrison County – Daniel Lightfoot, Senior Intergovernmental Relations Specialist, League of Minnesota Cities – John Isreal, Assistant Commissioner and Chief Information Security Officer, MNIT – Graham Berg-Moberg, Staff Attorney, Minnesota Association of Townships

• • 2025220_SF379_AMCLMC_Handout.pdf (PDF)
  • SF379_Bill_Summary.pdf (PDF)
  • scs0379a-3.pdf (PDF)
  • scs0379a-4.pdf (PDF)

Notes:

Senator Wiklund

• Author’s (A4) amendment: changes funding mechanism to general appropriation. It is a one-time funding. (MOVED)
• Establishes a grant program for cities and counties for cyber security. We have a cyber security task force. We have worked through them.
• There are federal programs but they don’t focus on cities and counties.

Amy Middendorf

• Supports the bill
• The number one asset we want to protect is data- we want to maintain trust.
• Counties are responsible for providing services, which means they have data. That makes us attractive to hackers
•  We are passionate about our work. This bill will help us boost our cyber security
• A3 Amendment: We want to add local townships are eligible entities – must have population of more than 5000. (MOVED)

Danial Lightfoot – League of MN Cities

• This is most important to under-resourced cities. We have a lot of them and they manage a lot. They are a big target
• Of 150 cities with population over 5000, only 83 have some kind of cyber security staff. They will be supported by regulations created last year.
• Many small cities have fewer than 7 and often just one full time staff members. 63 percent of cities don’t meet basic standards for cyber security. And threats are increasing.
• This bill would help with grants to buy equipment of software to support cyber security. This would be a good use of one-time funding.

John Israel From MNIT

• Supports the bill
• Works with cities, towns and counties – including maintaining a network, which offers some cyber security measures. We also provider security navigators.
• We serve about 200 local governments. They are instrumental is providing support but it’s not enough. We need more.

Graham Berg-Moberg from MN Association of Townships

• There are 17000 townships in MN.
• 1135 towns use a preferred software – that is an indication of how many towns are using technology.
• This is a good first step to better cyber security.

Q: Are there only 8 townships with population over 5000?
yes

Q: So many cities don’t have IT support. Can we help those cities make use of these grants?
Yes through League of MN Cities

Q: Is there support for grant writing?
There is flexibility to offer some help.

Q: Do you need to demonstrate local need for priority? What does that mean?
This is for communities with and without IT staff. There is flexibility.