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John Roussel, the driving force behind the California Department of Public Health’s IT operations, is retiring at the end of April. His departure punctuates a more than two-decade career in state IT.
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The state Employment Development Department has listed the 10 fastest-growing occupations in the Sacramento-Roseville region — and one of them is in IT. This position ranks 10th in growth among the top 10 — but first in compensation.
For months, California officials have been examining whether non-citizens voted last year. On Thursday, Secretary of State Alex Padilla confirmed for the first time that his office has an active internal investigation into the matter.
"Like any of these federal agencies that are closed as a result of the shutdown, [it] has put a burden on state and local governments that are engaging with them on a daily basis," Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci told Techwire. "They're a component that we plug into this toolbox and throughout this process, without them being open we continue to operate. We can't not operate."
A special district that serves the Bay Area is seeking an IT manager, and the deadline for applications is Wednesday.
Assemblymember Laura Friedman offers her outlook for the Legislature in the coming year, which she says includes a need to keep pace with technology while considering its implications.
Assemblymember Ed Chau says California had some successes in 2018 in IT governance, but he sees the accomplishments more as a floor than as a ceiling.
The California Department of Technology's "The Dirty Dozen," a 12-point list of the issues, challenges and problems that can bedevil a tech project, continues to guide IT initiatives.
It is difficult to find anyone who's not experiencing the unprecedented ease and increase with which data is collected and recorded and the myriad ways that data can be used and misused. For this reason, individuals should all become their own data architects, according to a pair of IT leaders from UCLA.
The state budget that passed in 2018 authorized an additional $15 million to build out the remaining sensors needed for California to have a complete warning system.
From privacy and employment laws to government's use of data in solving social and economic issues, state Sen. Ben Allen offers insight into issues he considers high priorities — and points to legislation he plans to carry in 2019.
Several riddles have become apparent during San Jose's ongoing tech modernization, its CIO writes, including the questions of how to build in privacy and security and how customer-centric design can evolve. Simultaneously, staffers will have to broaden the city's data analytics and quality assurance capacities and continue learning how to manage change.
Assemblyman Evan Low, co-founder and co-chairman of the Legislative Tech Caucus, offers an outlook for 2019 that includes legislative attention paid to the role that technology and innovation can and should play in wildfire prevention; transparency in procurement and government; discussions around tax reform; and financial technology such as blockchain regulation.
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services is looking at integrating all 911 services under Next-Generation technology, which would allow Californians to send a text message in an emergency.
Four experts in the tech sector will present a webinar next week that will offer deep insights into what’s driving the dramatic growth and opportunity in gov tech as an industry. The free webinar is sponsored by e.Republic, parent company of Techwire, Government Technology and other industry publications.
A Foster City startup today received the first approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to offer rides to the public in self-driving cars. It plans to roll out the robot taxi service in San Francisco in 2020.
The state's political ethics agency has announced it is investigating a complaint alleging that Palo Alto's former chief information officer, Jonathan Reichental, violated state gift laws by taking numerous trips — including international ones — financed by groups that work with telecommunications companies doing business with the city. He told Techwire the accusation is unfounded and unfair.
The state's Medi-Cal Management Information System will have a new fiscal intermediary contractor in October.
Due diligence, proper planning, stable leadership and attention to "soft skills" can help hard projects come to fruition, says IT veteran Shell Culp, The public and private sectors should both learn from the past.
Below is an outline of some of the department's financials.
Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, co-chairman of California's Tech Caucus, said he'll introduce legislation dealing with artificial intelligence in 2019, and will continue to work on determining how the state can make use of blockchain, including how it might secure elections.
IT chief Ann Dunkin expects her agency to streamline licensing and permitting, and look at potential expansion of artificial intelligence, among other things.
Contributed
The public workforce system stands at a crossroads. Career services professionals are increasingly tasked with serving harder-to-reach jobseekers under programs like Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA). These front-line staff must juggle verifying unemployment benefits eligibility and providing personalized reemployment coaching, often with limited time and resources. It’s a daunting challenge that raises a critical question: How can we scale support for those who need it most? The answer may lie in Agentic AI and AI-powered agents designed to work autonomously alongside humans which could be a game-changer for workforce development.
AI is helping governments and enterprises modernize aging systems faster while strengthening cybersecurity — an approach reflected in initiatives like Kosmic Eye supporting California’s digital infrastructure.
Insights from A1M Solutions on low-cost, low-risk ways to implement AI today
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