Public Safety Department Requests $441M IT Budget for 2026-27

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) has requested $294 million for IT-related exceptional items and $147 million for capital expenditures in its Fiscal Year 2026-27 legislative appropriations request.

According to the request, there are three exceptional items that require IT funds:

• $221 million for critical IT infrastructure
• $73 million for law enforcement technology and equipment
• $4 million for the Texas terrorist offender registry

The largest sub-requests include $97 million for disaster recovery and technology modernization, $27 million for securing crime record data and $24 million for security and identity management.

The following information resource items are included in the capital budget request:

• $105 million for information resource technology acquisitions
• $51 million for capital equipment acquisitions, which includes items such as radios and law enforcement equipment
• $6.4 million for data center consolidation
• $1.4 million for the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS)
• $13 million for cybersecurity

Notable capital budget items include $22 million for advanced analytics and threat detection software, $13 million for modernization initiatives, and $13 million for defending DPS systems.

The requested capital budget is approximately $17 million less than what DPS was granted for equivalent items in the General Appropriations Bill (HB 1) for FY 24-25.