Cybersecurity
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Idaho Office of Emergency Management’s Annual Preparedness and Cybersecurity Conference in Boise.
This conference is an education, outreach, and training event for local and state government officials including emergency managers, County Commissioners, Tribal Council Members, and cybersecurity professionals.
We heard Idaho’s Region X coordinator discuss cybersecurity resources available to both public and private sector stakeholders and how CISA (cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency) works to defend the homeland from cyber-attacks.
Participating in an ‘escape room’ scenario designed by INL tested our group’s ability to communicate and coordinate multiple forms of information/data to access and restore critical life support systems aboard an imaginary space station.
Other topics ranged from how to defend against fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars, lessons learned from this summer’s multi-site attack on Idaho Power’s critical infrastructure, the potential impacts of climate change on Idaho’s future water resource, and the role that Idaho Emergency Managers can play in Local Housing issues.
Delving into the world of artificial intelligence was the highlight of the week. The keynote address was given by Glen Woodbury, Professor of the Practice Emeritus, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, Naval Postgraduate School. This was a riveting presentation on the evolution of AI, with a focus on the potential benefits and risks associated with this fast-evolving and often unpredictable technology.
Living in a rapidly changing world, cybersecurity threats continue to loom large, and it is crucial that we take proactive steps to protect our community's critical infrastructure.
I commend our State’s Emergency Managers, their staff and the IT gurus that work hard every day to keep us safe.
SB 1161 Empowering Parents Grant Program.
This bill underwent extensive debate. In the end, it passed the Senate floor 19-15-1. This bill takes $30 million from the above mentioned $330 million to fund the Empowering Parents Grant program. This bill also creates a pilot program for five years for up to 2,000 students per year to provide a tuition grant of $6,000 per student. This money will be used for private schooling. As a colleague said, “this is a winner for 2000 students, the rest of the students lose.”
HB 292 is a property tax relief bill.
It would provide $355 million in tax relief immediate and ongoing. It also provides $100 million to public schools to pay off bonds and levies, with the ability to use any leftover money on their facilities. One issue with this is that the bill removes the March school district election date for bonds and levies. This election date was a negotiated date and is important to our school boards. We have worked hard to get this amended but with no luck.
HB 205 is a voting restriction bill.
This would have repealed no-excuse, absentee voting; a method of voting we have had in place since 1970. Fortunately, the bill was killed in the House.
The Best News of the Week
SB 1127 State Dinosaur 35-0
Thanks to the fourth-grade class at South Fork Elementary School, Idaho now has a state dinosaur!!! Oryctodromeus. This is the best known and most common dinosaur found in Idaho. This dinosaur has only been discovered in Idaho. This dinosaur is believed to have been an herbivore that cared for its young in family groups underground. Pretty cool to have state dinosaur! (I stood and thanked the fourth graders for not choosing me as the state dinosaur).
I reached my goal of 10,000 steps a day for the month of February. Blue Cross of Idaho challenged all legislators to achieve this. As a result, Blue Cross of Idaho will donate $1000.00 dollars to the Valley School District. This year the program generated $47,000.00 dollars for public Idaho elementary schools.
