New legislation paves the way for an electronic database of all financial disclosure information from elected officials throughout the state. Californians soon will have another way to keep an eye on their elected leaders. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill on Tues., Oct. 8 authorizing the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to build an electronic database where hundreds of thousands of public officials will file their financial disclosure reports.
California legislators have taken on several issues related to protecting online privacy. In a series of bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, residents of the state now enjoy better protections against identity theft and personal data tracking. Last week, Gov. Brown signed a third measure that allows minors to delete online activity.
Twitter Alerts aims to get information from vetted, credible organizations to the public during an emergency. Twitter is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to get emergency information directly from vetted, credible organizations. The system, called Twitter Alerts, will deliver tweets marked as an alert by approved organizations through the traditional timeline feed and via SMS to a user’s cellphone. In addition, users who have the Twitter app for iPhone or Android will receive a push notification with the alert information.
Cybersecurity, big data and citizen engagement were among the topics on the agenda at GTC West Government Technology’s GTC West conference kicked off Tuesday, August 20 in Sacramento, Calif. The event, which continues on August 21, features nearly 20 sessions, covering topics on the minds of public-sector IT leaders, ranging from smart infrastructure and big data, to cybersecurity and cloud computing.
According to today’s report “Recommendations to Improve Large Information Technology Procurements: A Road Map for Success in California,” Governor Brown and State Controller John Chiang appointed task force members to help the state identify how it can hire the right vendors, at the best value and hold them accountable for their performance.
In the late evening on Monday, Aug. 5, Californians got their first ever statewide Amber Alert via a cellphone alert — a shrill, some say startling, notification from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, providing vehicle details for a San Diego-area murder suspect that officials believe may have also kidnapped two of the victim’s children. The California Highway Patrol believed the suspect could be en route to Canada or Texas.
This month the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released a new report on collaboration titled What Makes Collaborative Initiatives Work? As an extension of its efforts to share information on topics beneficial to state and local government, NASCIO released a follow-up report focusing specifically on governance and its importance in the success of these intergovernmental partnerships.
In 2010, California considered switching to digital license plates, complete with pop-up ads — and the state is looking into similar legislation yet again.
A new report from California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris reveals that the personal information of 2.5 million Californians was exposed in 2012 as a result of electronic data breaches.
There’s big news on the open data front emanating from Washington, D.C., today, according to an official White House blog post. President Obama issued an executive order on open data, and the directive outlines support for making government data “open and accessible by default.”
The controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA, is dead on arrival in the United States Senate, according to the Los Angeles Times. The measure passed the House of Representatives handily on April 18.
Palo Alto, Calif., launched the first open data set of city GIS data on April 19 by leveraging Google Fusion Tables. Data sets currently available on the Open GIS platform include location data, road centerlines, land use, tree data, public projects and trench plate data.
On Tuesday, April 9, the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee approved SB 135 — which would require the development of a comprehensive statewide earthquake early warning system in the state — by a 10-0 vote.
During his opening remarks at the the Mobile Government 2013 forum in Sacramento, Calif., state Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos launched the California GeoPortal — the first ever gateway to California’s geospatial information.
The career track for California state IT employees may improve after Gov. Jerry Brown’s massive government reorganization plan takes effect, says Sue Johnsrud, chief operating officer for the governor’s office. Johnrud’s comments were made during a panel discussion on leadership at the CIO Academy held today in Sacramento.
Techwire.net friend and colleague John Thomas Flynn announced he is running for the 8th Assembly District in Sacramento. Well known in the state technology community, John was California’s first State CIO, appointed by Governor Pete Wilson. He is also the host of Techleader.TV, a public affairs talk show featuring technology leaders working in state government. If elected, California will have a new technology champion in the State Capitol. John provided this statement today:
Veteran IT staffer Donna Snell has been appointed as chief information officer (CIO) for the state program that resolves claims against the state and compensates crime victims. As head of IT for the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board, Snell replaces Kathy Cruz who was recently promoted to chief deputy executive officer.
A high-ranking FCC official will visit California tomorrow to present the federal government’s five-step action plan to implement Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911) services, including the future use of text, data and video during an emergency. The presentation will take place at the quarterly State 9-1-1 Advisory Board meeting in Sacramento.
