Federal approval of the state’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program smooths the way for the grant application process to open to Internet service providers, expected in late summer.
The Peach State joins Nevada and California in hewing to a 2025 deadline — in this case, May 7 — for residents to get their Real IDs. In Georgia, it is referred to as a Secure ID.
Legislation awaiting Gov. Josh Green’s signature would have the state chief information officer no longer report directly to the governor. Critics say this could diminish the role and have a chilling effect on innovation.
The issue required residents to wait as long as eight weeks for their licenses to arrive in the mail. That lag has been halved and is expected to disappear entirely by month’s end. The precise cause remains unclear.
A multibillion-dollar plan to develop 10,000 miles of broadband infrastructure has hit financial headwinds, forcing the state to consider what not to build. Some construction is already underway.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed Senate Bill 37, bipartisan legislation that makes Pennsylvania the 29th state to ban distracted driving. It prohibits using handheld devices when driving.
State lawmakers have approved three bills that refresh areas of the law pertaining to minors, and to artificially generated images of “sexual depiction” – redefining such depictions to include those generated by AI.
The state’s chief information officer of more than five years has a varied background that includes 25 years in the U.S. Air Force. In Hawaii, he helped modernize and consolidate IT infrastructure.
The state Legislature has set aside $250,000 this year to study underground water levels and ensure they don’t run dry amid increased demand from data centers and a multiyear drought.
The state program would match private dollars in an effort to build out the technology ecosystem with project funding. Areas of focus could include data centers, operations support or backing lab space.
