Alabama forms emerging tech board, codifies IT office’s cyber responsibilities

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday announced a new statewide board tasked with ensuring that emerging technologies are deployed securely and “responsibly.”

The Technology Quality Assurance Board, which will include representatives from seven agencies — Education, Finance, Law Enforcement, Medicaid, Technology, Transportation and Revenue — is tasked with developing statewide standards and ensuring “innovation is implemented in a way that protects citizen data and enhances government services,” according to a news release. Ivey called the board “a critical step forward” for advancing new technologies, and that it will do so while minding “operational excellence.”

The lawmaker who drafted group’s enabling legislation once described it as a “clearinghouse for technology” that will allow departments to “stay on the same page.” Such groups have become increasingly common as states have in recent years grappled with the intricacies of layering new artificial intelligence tools into their organizations.

The board’s creation was directed by legislation Ivey signed into law last May that also codified changes to the state’s technology operations. It officially placed cybersecurity responsibilities under watch of the Office of Information Technology and its chief information officer, a role Daniel Urquhart has held since Ivey appointed him in 2023. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Shaw, a Republican, explained to his fellow lawmakers during a hearing last March that the IT office, which had been given additional responsibilities in 2017, was already administering cybersecurity, but that his bill “puts it in law.”

His bill also removed from statute some technology responsibilities that had been held by defunct bodies, like the state Department of Finance’s data management division. It consolidated various laws defining the technology office’s responsibilities, such as its role as a central administrator of technology services and “the centralized approving authority” for acquiring all new technology and billing agencies for services.

Shaw’s bill breezed through the state legislature last year with few questions. Last April, one lawmaker asked: “Does this have anything to do with our crypto monies?” Shaw replied that it did not. During another hearing, last February, Rep. Chris Sells, a Republican, replied to Shaw’s description of the bill by saying: “Is there anybody here who can understand what he’s talking about?” The bill was advanced by voice vote without further discussion.

Shaw introduced his bill in one session by announcing that it would cause the other lawmakers to “catch government technology fever.”

The legislation, which is now part of Alabama state code, also provides that funding, direct appropriations and “other funds” related to IT services are to be held in a Telecommunications Revolving Fund, from which the CIO is permitted to make deposits and expenditures “from time to time.”