The National Association of State Chief Information Officers and other groups representing state and local officials praised the U.S. House of Representatives voting late Friday night to approve a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill that includes, among many measures, a new cybersecurity grant program and record-setting investments in broadband development.
Included in the 2,700-page bill — which mostly addresses improvements to roadways, ports and mass transit — is $1 billion to set up a four-year grant program inside the Department of Homeland Security to assist state and local governments with cybersecurity funding. The grants, which are to be administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency — with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency serving in an advisory role — will satisfy one of NASCIO’s longtime federal legislative priorities.
