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What to Know:
- Dallas uses AI-equipped garbage trucks to flag potential code violations for review by city staff.
- More than 20,000 concerns were photographed in four months, with most observations and citations in southern Dallas.
- Council members are raising questions about privacy, neighborhood impacts and the program’s $852,000 annual cost.
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What to Know:
- The fiscal 2027 IT fund is about $1.9 million higher than the city’s fiscal 2026 adopted level.
- About $1.8 million is budgeted for capital outlay, while $3.3 million is set aside for contracted services.
- The council also approved a separate Dell financing agreement allowing up to $3.75 million in future technology purchases.
Jessica Ballew, who has served as CIO since 2024, sat down with Industry Insider — Texas to talk about public safety technology, mission-critical system modernization and how cybersecurity, AI and automation are shaping DPS technology priorities.
What to Know:
- Multiple industry sources say DFPS CIO Drew McGrath is expected to retire, though the agency has not confirmed a departure.
- Gustavo Alba will begin as Waco’s CIO on Sept. 28 after serving in technology roles with Frisco, Dallas and the New York City Department of Education.
- Brownsville CIO Jorge Cardenas said his final day with the city will be Oct. 2 after about three years in the role.
What to Know:
- Data centers that fail to submit required water-use surveys could face criminal referrals and permit consequences.
- The Texas Water Development Board will coordinate with ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas on data center water use information.
- The water board must report its enforcement activity to the Governor’s Office by Oct. 14.
What to Know:
- SAFER connects more than 30 systems, including indoor maps, cameras, traffic data and fire safety information, in one geospatial environment for first responders.
- Frisco uses Esri’s ArcGIS technology and is migrating indoor data to the ArcGIS Indoors model, with more than 200 buildings already represented.
- The platform now provides access to more than 7,000 cameras, while city staff continue developing new mobile, desktop and fire watch capabilities in-house.
What to Know:
- New required topics include business email compromise and foreign adversary activity.
- Public agencies and private providers are represented among the certified offerings.
What to Know:
- The center is backed by $2.6 million from the Texas Legislature.
- UHD is still building agency partnerships and the framework for sharing data.
- The effort could eventually support broader regional crime analysis and policy research.
What to Know:
- Dallas approved nearly $20 million in additional technology spending.
- Council scrutiny centered on device costs, purchasing patterns and contract oversight.
- The package supports both employee computing needs and Next-Generation 911 services.
What to Know:
- The state may make one or multiple awards, with no guaranteed minimum purchases.
- Vendors should note DIR’s shift away from branded solicitations.
- Responses are tentatively due Nov. 18 following a Sept. 30 bidder’s conference.
What to Know:
- Salesforce accounts for most of the proposed spending.
- Two of the actions would replace contracts nearing expiration.
- The package spans customer services, records management and workforce training.
What to Know:
- Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo wants a public meeting to examine the county’s use of thousands of Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras.
- Hidalgo is calling for clearer rules around data access, privacy, camera locations and oversight before the programs continue.
- The Commissioners Court renewed the Flock Safety contract in May as investigations into alleged misuse of the technology continue in Harris County and nearby jurisdictions.
What to Know:
- HHSC’s total 2028-29 request is about $112 billion across all programs.
- The LAR includes about $1.4 billion in baseline technology-related capital-budget categories.
- Exceptional items marked with an IT component total about $491 million, though not every dollar represents a standalone technology purchase.
What to Know:
- Shared cyber protection is the largest exceptional item.
- The AI and quantum request includes funding for AI model access, statewide AI system security and cryptographic discovery.
- The workforce item would add 120 full-time equivalent positions if fully funded.
Industry Insider — Texas will not publish a newsletter Monday in observance of the Labor Day holiday. The newsletter will resume Wednesday morning.
What to Know:
- An ordered 3 percent reduction in budgets is pushing agencies to rethink AI and modernization.
- Agency CIOs are grappling with token consumption costs post-deployment.
- Texas Cyber Command aims to strengthen and expand the state's RSOC program.
What to Know:
- The six-month pilot gives Texas water and wastewater utilities access to cybersecurity and AI resources at no cost.
- Federal partners include the Environmental Protection Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
- Microsoft, Reflection AI, Palo Alto Networks and Dragos are among the participating companies.
What to Know:
- San Antonio is weighing a multimillion-dollar transportation technology contract this week.
- El Paso transit officials are pursuing federal money tied to an existing paratransit software project.
- Houston’s technology committee returns later this month, with its agenda still pending.
What to Know:
- Insight Public Sector’s network engineering award is valued at $5 million, with pricing locked for the full term.
- A best and final offer cut the network engineering cost by $62,000 annually, totaling $246,000 across four one-year terms.
- DIR is also advancing about $3.5 million in voice services and router spending, including a $1.1 million router purchase billed to the Texas Facilities Commission.
What to Know:
- Data center and shared technology services account for the largest technology amount, at about $49 million.
- TxDMV is requesting about $8 million for technology replacement and upgrades supporting county tax assessor-collector offices.
- The agency is seeking unexpended-balance authority to continue the $125 million Registration and Titling System modernization project funded by the 89th Legislature.
What to Know:
- DIR is in the early stages of AI sandbox engagements with six agencies and is fielding interest from several others.
- The department has certified more than 100 AI awareness training programs, while its own training has received more than 60,000 YouTube views.
- State CIO Tony Sauerhoff said DIR is not aware of AI-related breaches of state systems and described segmentation, access and life cycle controls used to isolate sandbox environments.
What to Know:
- The system gives the Police Department’s Fusion Center access to nationwide pawn and secondhand property records for investigations.
- The agreement also covers data analysis, investigative research, cellular mapping and cross-case information sharing.
- Dallas is consolidating services previously handled through multiple agreements into one LeadsOnline contract.
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