CHP Seeks $15M Budget Bump for New Technology

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is asking for a $15 million increase in its budget request for the coming fiscal year to fund an increase in IT costs.

The budget change proposal (BCP) asks that that sum be included in the state budget for Fiscal Year 2022-23, which legislators will consider as part of the May budget revise, a final step toward adoption of the budget. If approved, the one-time allotment would come from the state’s Motor Vehicle Account and would take effect July 1 or upon enactment of the FY 2022-23 state budget.

“As the CHP continues to improve service and safety to California’s civilians through the implementation of new technologies and programs, the department has experienced an increase in information technology costs,” says a summary of the BCP.

“The baseline costs for these technologies include, but are not limited to, the department’s computer-aided dispatch system, statewide network upgrades, statewide wireless installations, modem replacements, disaster recovery, privacy and risk management, cybersecurity and threat assessment, cloud computing, and Microsoft Office 365 licensing,” says the BCP.

In a breakdown of how the money would be spent, the BCP shows an increase of approximately $13.3 million in baseline costs – roughly a 100 percent increase – over the last decade.

The CHP says that it is “continually updating” its IT infrastructure to increase network security, provide more online services to the public and give officers the tools they need so they can spend more time on patrol duties.

In the BCP, the department makes its case for the expenditure:

“The department has invested in new cybersecurity and network monitoring tools that enhance the security and performance of the department’s IT network. These cybersecurity tools allow for the prevention of cybersecurity attacks, which could compromise confidential data and jeopardize the department’s ability to perform its mission-critical duties. In accordance with the state’s Cloud Computing Policy, the CHP is investing in cloud computing tools when possible, such as the Microsoft Dynamics 365 warehouse management system, Palo Alto Traps endpoint protection, and ServiceNow ticketing system.

“In addition,” the BCP says, “Microsoft Azure Cloud Services has been implemented to allow the department to continue performing its mission-critical duties should a catastrophic event occur. While cloud computing solutions increase accessibility and reduce some maintenance tasks for departmental IT staff, they are extremely costly and have significantly increased the department’s IT budget needs. To allow officers to effectively perform patrol duties, the department is supplying officers with tablets, which assist with the automation of manual paper-based tasks and allow the officers to perform a variety of duties more efficiently.”

Of the $15 million request, $13.3 million would go toward this technology. The remaining $1.7 million would go toward “critical updates to aging infrastructure or future projects under development,” the BCP says. “The $1.7 million will fund the modernization of the academy infrastructure and virtualization of division and area offices.”

The BCP includes a chart detailing the CHP’s technology spend in fiscal years 2012-13, 2016-17 and 2021-22, with line items.