DIR’s Legislative Recommendations Include Statewide Privacy Officer

The Department of Information Resources (DIR) is stressing the need for a statewide chief data privacy officer who would influence privacy practice and processes across the state.

This is the first four legislative recommendations DIR makes in its 2024 Biennial Performance Report: Next-Level Tech for an Exceptional Government Experience, posted last week.

The officer would:

• Be a dedicated resource to state agencies 
• Assist with establishing best practices and policy 
• Educate and inform state employees on privacy protection 
• Educate and inform Texans about their privacy 

The second concerns the Texas Open Data Portal. DIR asks that agencies be required to regularly review and update their data sets and also to request exemptions before posting duplicative portals.

Third, agencies haven’t submitted a required modernization plan since 2022, and DIR recommends that state agencies be required to update them regularly. This relates to transformation and modernization, but will also increase transparency and accountability.

Finally, DIR asks the Legislature to authorize it to provide artificial intelligence guidance, standards, policies and processes to state agencies.

To recap, the state strategic IT goals for the coming years are:

• Elevated government experience (customer experience)
• Mature data management and privacy practices
• Skilled and resilient workforce
• Transformation and modernization