Transportation, Technology & Legislative Affairs - Senate
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Bills discussed (18)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1549
Act 489
· 4 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…ATION Richardson SYSTEMS CONCERNING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. HB1549 R. Scott TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CYBERSECURITY ACT OF 2025.…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CYBERSECURITY ACT OF 2025. | R. Scott Richardson | Notification that HB1549 is now Act 489 |
|
HB1557
Act 480
· 4 mentions in transcript, chapter, agenda
Matched: “Which one would you like, uh, let's start with uh HB 1557. And”
|
TO AMEND THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE DIVISION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONCERNING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. | R. Scott Richardson | Notification that HB1557 is now Act 480 |
|
SB397
Act 931
· 4 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “SB397 D. Wallace TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL INFORMATION OF…”
|
TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL INFORMATION OF RAIL EMPLOYEES IN REPORTS INVOLVING RAILROAD FATALITIES. | D. Wallace | Notification that SB397 is now Act 931 |
|
HB1547
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…e was a previous bill that Representative Meeks ran. It was House Bill 1547, I believe, and that's already been sent to the governor's…”
|
TO AMEND THE WATER AUTHORITY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "QUALIFIED CORPORATION" UNDER … | L. Johnson | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1606
Act 922
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1606 Steimel TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERAT…”
|
TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERATION OF A UTILITY TASK VEHICLE ON … | Steimel | Notification that HB1606 is now Act 922 |
|
HB1654
Act 490
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1654 Tosh TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF A SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE F…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF A SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE FOR THE MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF THE … | Tosh | Notification that HB1654 is now Act 490 |
|
HB1666
Act 656
· 2 mentions in agenda, transcript
Matched: “…estrictions designating areas as 'Members and Staff Only'. HB1666 S. Meeks TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS SELF-FUND…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS SELF-FUNDED CYBER RESPONSE PROGRAM. | S. Meeks | Notification that HB1666 is now Act 656 |
|
HB1688
Act 710
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1688 Cavenaugh TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE USE OF A DEA…”
|
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE USE OF A DEALER'S EXTRA LICENSE PLATE. | Cavenaugh | Notification that HB1688 is now Act 710 |
|
SB498
Act 581
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB498 J. Petty TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF DRIVER A…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF DRIVER AND VEHICLE RECORDS AND TO PROTECT DRIVER … | J. Petty | Notification that SB498 is now Act 581 |
|
SB258
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ORITY; AND TO REPEAL REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY DETACHMENT. SB258 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIGITAL RESPONSIBILITY, SAF…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIGITAL RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, AND TRUST ACT. | C. Penzo | Died on Senate Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB330
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…OF 2025. Richardson DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle SB330 J. Scott TO AMEND THE CONTENTS OF THE WRITTEN DRIVER'S LICE…”
|
TO AMEND THE CONTENTS OF THE WRITTEN DRIVER'S LICENSE TEST AND THE DRIVER'S INSTRUCTION MANUAL; … | J. Scott | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB447
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…OF RAIL EMPLOYEES IN REPORTS INVOLVING RAILROAD FATALITIES. SB447 J. Petty TO REQUIRE PERMITTED COMMON CARRIERS TO SUBMIT REP…”
|
TO REQUIRE PERMITTED COMMON CARRIERS TO SUBMIT REPORTS DETAILING SHIPMENTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES INTO THE … | J. Petty | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB478
Act 738
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…DETAILING SHIPMENTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES INTO THE STATE. SB478 G. TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIESEL ENGINE FREEDOM ACT OF 2025…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS DIESEL ENGINE FREEDOM ACT OF 2025; AND TO PROHIBIT STATE ENFORCEMENT … | G. Stubblefield | Notification that SB478 is now Act 738 |
|
SB492
Act 699
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…mie Scott SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS Number Sponsor Subtitle SB492 J. Bryant TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE RELOCATION OF UTI…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE RELOCATION OF UTILITY FACILITIES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW … | J. Bryant | Notification that SB492 is now Act 699 |
|
SB496
Act 700
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…T OF FEDERAL REGULATION OF CERTAIN TYPES OF DIESEL ENGINES. SB496 Caldwell TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PERMITS FOR SPECIAL CA…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PERMITS FOR SPECIAL CARGOES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING … | Caldwell | Notification that SB496 is now Act 700 |
|
SB540
Act 702
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…PROTECT DRIVER AND VEHICLE RECORDS FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE. SB540 M. Johnson TO LIMIT THE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A DRIVE…”
|
TO LIMIT THE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A DRIVER'S LICENSE OR IMPOSITION OF RESTRICTIONS ON … | M. Johnson | Notification that SB540 is now Act 702 |
|
SB541
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…A DRIVER'S LICENSE OF A PERSON WHO HAS SUFFERED A SEIZURE. SB541 G. Leding TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TOWING OR STORAGE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE TOWING OR STORAGE OF A VEHICLE, IMPLEMENT, OR PIECE … | G. Leding | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB96
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…SPOSITION OF REAL PROPERTY BY THE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION. SB96 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DETACHMENT BY A REGION…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DETACHMENT BY A REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY; AND TO REPEAL REGIONAL … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
Machine transcript
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- October 2, 2026
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
0:10
We're gonna get started and we're gonna start with uh Senator Wallace, SB 397. I OK. If you
would, Senator Wallace, please introduce yourself for the record. Good
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
0:36
morning, Mr. Chair, members, Senator Dave Wallace, District 19.
397 is uh real simple bill. What we're trying to do 90% of all railroad accidents are not the fault of the
Members and employees that work on the train. This bill will redact their names from any newspapers or anything to keep their names out of the press. However, if somebody wants to for you the bill, then it's foible. The bill doesn't stop
that at all. Uh, and, and with that. Uh I stand by for your questions. We heard the
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:28
bill. Do we have any questions from the committee? Senator Johnson, Thank
Speaker 11
1:33
you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Wallace, I've, I'm, I'm thinking more of equity. I hate that word, but I'm gonna use it here. Uh.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:46
Do we have other entities, other professions and, and uh where We have this protection. I mean, I'm thinking most people we want
to protect their privacy, but I'm just wondering, do we have some parallel example to doing this with railroad Senator Johnson, none that I am aware of. OK. All right. Thank you, Senator. Thank you,
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
2:01
Mr. Chair. Thank you. Any other questions from the committee? Saying
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:09
none. Is there anyone here to speak for or against the bill?
You sends And there's no one signed up. Oh Enter your free. I'm close. You're closed. So what is the will
of the committee? motion to pass by Senator Love, seconded by Senator Scott. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. All po same sign center your bill passed. Thank you, sir.
What we're going to try to do today is we're going to try to push
through most of these bills this morning that are non-controversial. And so if you have a controversial bill,
Speaker 28
3:07
kind of, kind of, hold tight with that until
Speaker 26
3:09
this afternoon's session. next. who's that? He is in Texas and that.
Speaker 29
3:18
here. You can't because it's a numbers on this morning. You can't run
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
3:22
that until this afternoon this afternoon, Senator Johnson, looks like we'll
have to run yours this afternoon. Senator Wallace, do you have another one? Yes,
Speaker 32
3:37
sir. Yes, sir. And is there anyone here to run
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
3:51
HB 1666 for Meeks. Go ahead, Senator, Senator Dave Walsh, District 19, uh, another simple bill. It's a creation of
a new license plate, and we are retiring a An older license plate. This is for the Make A Wish Foundation of the Mid-South. Um And it comes at a popular request from a lot of people out there. It's going to replace the mid-South Community College
Education Special license plate, uh, and DFNA says they have plenty of those available females want to ask for one. And with that, I stand by
for your questions. Any questions, Senator Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Wallace, how
Speaker 37
4:37
many license plates have you created this session? This will be my 2nd 1. Yeah, I thought
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
4:45
so. Yeah, this, this one I created the one for the Women veterans
This one I'm a co-sponsor on, so I didn't really create
Speaker 42
4:59
this one. I'm just messing with you. You keeping track. love. And Senator Wallace, I don't, we might have to get um DFNA to the table for this question. Is there anyone from DFNA here? So You
Speaker 46
5:24
Please introduce yourself for the record. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
5:30
the committee, Alicia Austin Smith with DFA. So we're we're gonna be retiring the Mid-South Community College, um, how many,
how many license please and how many renewals do we have annually for that license plate? That is
Speaker 52
5:41
very specific information I would have to get from our administrators if we have
Speaker 54
5:47
that. I'm thinking it's very. OK. We're thinking they're 90
Speaker 52
5:54
annually. OK. So currently we have enough in inventory that any individual who currently already has that license plate would be able to continue to renew it, they would not have an issue with that current inventory, but a new individual would not be able to get that repealed license plate. Yeah, yeah,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
6:13
OK, I, I. So, so tell me, so. Well So when we take it out of circulation, that means the people that already have one.
Then can continue to renew it considered grandfathered in. Yes, as long as
Speaker 59
6:29
we still have the inventory, which this one we do. And then once
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
6:31
the inventory just expires. I mean, it's just. We would not make new plates. That's correct. Got you. Alright, thank you, Senator Johnson. uh There you go, there. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
6:57
I want to clarify this, and I, I'm, it's not a big deal, but You have so many new mid-South plates in inventory, but no one could after this bill passes, obtain one of those, but anyone that already had one could continue to renew it as long as they, they wanted to, but it wouldn't, uh, When we, and I know what we're doing, we close one out and we issue a new one, but the one
that we're closing out those unused new tags are not issued. Am I reading, understanding that correctly? That's correct. An individual who does not
Speaker 64
7:36
currently have one of those plates, would not be able to apply for one. But if I had one, I could keep it
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
7:43
as long as I kept renewing it. That's correct, Senator, I guess within some reason because they'll wear out, I guess. OK, all right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Senator Wallace,
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
7:51
I have a question for you. How did you determine which uh which license plate to, to do away with.
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
8:02
In, in the case I can speak in the case I can speak in the case of the women's veterans and and this one I was not involved. I was, I'm a co-sponsor, but In that situation we just reviewed all the license plates we saw, uh, how many had been used. And how many were left available in my case, I had 152 left available and it was, uh, in my case, World War 2, Pearl Harbor survivors. There's only 16 of
Speaker 38
8:33
those gentlemen left in the United States probably most of them are not driving now, probably. Yeah,
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
8:37
do you know the answer to that? From day night. I know
Speaker 46
8:43
that we received queries from time to time as to which plates are the least utilized
Speaker 52
8:47
and we provide that information, but we don't make a recommendation as to when that should be repealed. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 42
8:56
Any other questions, Senator Love? So it's, it's gonna be my assumption that this is probably
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
9:04
one of the least used license plates since, I mean since it was chosen.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
9:12
OK. All right, thank you. Seeing no other questions, is there anyone here to
speak for or against the bill? Saying no one center, you're free to close. I'm
close, closed. got a motion to pass Senator Johnson. Second with Senator Scott, any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor.
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
9:36
All the poll same sign. I have it. Enter your bill passed. Thank you, and I promise you it'll be my last license plate bill of
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
9:57
this session. Representative Richard Representative Richardson. I know you're ready. We, we talked last night. Yes, we did, Mr. Chair.
Which one would you like, uh, let's start with uh HB 1557. And
please introduce yourself for the record and you're free to introduce
Scott Richardson
Unverified
10:19
your bills. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Scott Richardson, House District 13. Uh, this bill's an agency bill coming to us from the Office of State Technology or newly will be named Office of State Technology, um, this is uh specifically
To amend the responsibilities of information technology and response to um a a number of different areas that need to be refined, realigned, and provided, uh, a little bit different structure um specifically we're dealing with um Now, these agencies Work together. This is also part of the Arkansas Forward, which was uh a review from the governor's plan to provide a
significant and efficiencies and cost savings and how we work things. One of the areas that I like to talk about uh when introducing this bill is The project management and if you were in the, in ALC this last couple of years, you notice that I spent a lot of time asking questions around project management, who's responsible for projects coming to completion, who's responsible for making sure that the state is getting the best bang for their dollar, how are we prioritizing projects and uh
that's a that's a significant gap in our current technology environment. This aligned project technology project management underneath the office. of uh of uh state technology to ensure that all of our technology resources are focused, that we're doing the best we can to get the best money for excuse me, get the best product for the money that we have available. We don't have endless funds, so we need to prioritize and make sure that we're spending those funds in the way that most makes sense, um.
Additionally, we make sure that we're doing a better job of reporting the agency will be responsible for getting reports back to ALC and the members to make sure that we all know where their dollars are being spent, where their focuses are and priorities and publish those lists and to ensure that we're we're we're managing the limited funds that we have in a productive manner and
Speaker 81
12:36
with that, I'm happy to try to field any questions. Thank you, Representative. Any questions from the committee?
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
12:45
Central of Thank you, Mr. Chair, and, and Representative, good to see you, um, do
Speaker 84
12:54
you have anybody here from the agency? Of course. Look, would you like for me to bring them? Yes, please, please bring them forward. Please introduce yourself for
Speaker 86
13:08
the record. Jay Hartton, director of Office of State Technology. All right,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
13:16
good to see you this morning. Hey, alright, so I'm just, I'm just, I, I heard the, the explanation of the bill, but I'm I'm looking at the practical what's going to practically happen in in regards to this bill. What, what are we, what, what is gonna change in in the the functionality of of the department in in across the Uh, state
Speaker 86
13:39
agencies. Right, so currently there's really no IT governance across all the 15 executive branch departments, and so we'll be
setting those standards and policies, um, and guidelines for the procurement of any IT product. So currently, like right now, any, all the 15 departments can go out and buy any PC that they want that's on state contract at any configuration, however, you know, there should really be a standard configuration so What we've seen, um, is, you know, a standard laptop should be about $1200 but sometimes we see people purchasing laptops
that are 24 $2500 so we'll put some governance in place that they have to, you know, basically come to us and explain why they need to spend more than what the standard basis
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
14:29
is for a laptop. OK. Now, um, a couple of years ago, I, I know we
looked at not only the governance but um the sharing. data across across state agencies so that we could get smarter and just say our criminal defense and different things like that, so, so.
Is is that piece in here as far as the because this is establishing a four state is it
is it is that piece here or is that gonna be something else? Are we still looking to get volume from
Speaker 86
15:01
other because that piece isn't in this bill. There was a previous bill that Representative Meeks ran. It was House Bill 1547, I believe, and that's already been sent to the governor's office for a signature, which required each of the departments to define a data steward.
With their uh department and then they will be um working directly with our AR data team to be able to do that data sharing agreement and it puts DIS in charge of those DIS sharing agreements so that um we can better have control of it and and have that, OK, all right. I think, I think I'm. I think I'm good.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
15:37
Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions? Seeing none. Is
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
15:42
there anyone here to speak for or against the
bill? Seeing no one what's you. OK, go. Um, you
Speaker 92
16:01
mentioned, uh, procurement and purchase, do you all have a cooperative?
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
16:05
Are you all part of a cooperative? As far as when you, when it comes to your purchasing. Yeah,
Speaker 86
16:17
things are on a state contract
or on a NASPO contract or cooperative contract that we utilize through um Office of State procurement. Some of the bigger projects and software type things, those do go out for RFP. OK. All
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
16:30
right, so So now with this bill we're going to set up. Uh-huh It it may be a little concerning, I, I guess until we get the system up of actually them purchasing or are you just gonna be checking off on the purchases to make sure kind of
like hey you know an office needs 20 new computers. You're gonna be helping them configure the software data all that. It's going to be working through your office through the person that they have. Um What, what did you call that person that they were supposed
Speaker 86
17:10
to establish. Well, we'll have an IT governance team, um, that will, you know, review the, the requests and everything now in this bill, it does have a predefined list of approved laptop software and all that kind of stuff. OK.
That way we're not creating a roadblock, we're creating the efficiency of it, not having to come through us if you're buying off a pre-approved list. Gotcha.
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
17:32
OK. All right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions or
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
17:36
comments? Seeing no what is the will of the committee, have a motion
of Senator Scott, seconded by Senator Johnson. Any discussion All those in favor, say I oppose the same sign. Representative of your bill passed. Thank the committee A and
Speaker 81
18:00
We are ready now for HB 1549. Wonderful and with the chair's permission, I'll go ahead and get our
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
18:06
state agency cybersecurity expert to the table so that if you guys have any questions, we'll be ready and prepared. No, no problem there. Scream on up. So this bill, uh, once again, Scott Richardson, state
Scott Richardson
Unverified
18:17
representative District 13. This bill, um, of course, is another agency bill and something that I've been in conversations with the agency and uh for I don't know, a year and a half or so. The conversations
revolved around how do we better align the overall security posture of the state, and one of the challenges you have with a large environment is you can create a lot of different A very large outward facing footprint for those that would do bad things to attack, and you need to ensure that you have a very clean front end. I used the analogy in the in the House Committee of of a football team. Um, you, you, you place a
football team, you have a variety of offensive linemen that are there to establish your front line of defense, and then you have a quarterback behind that or or potentially coach or whoever you want to call that's calling the. and making sure that everybody is doing the same thing and moving in the same direction so that you're your defense, um, uh, of the uh of, of your outside influencers to your play can be effectively managed right now we have none of that. Um we uh we have some interconnection and conversations, um, but
really the overall governance of how we're going to establish that frontline defense and the internal alignment of that is uh is. This bill puts us in a position so that the department has the responsibility of ensuring that that front line is well coordinated, that they are in the places that they need to be using the right kinds of tools that they need to do to face these outward. Challenges that are coming, um.
a couple of pieces of that um that I want to point out that are in the bill, um, and then I'll be ready for questions. We do um make sure that within this we um. Have The agency reporting to us our security posture on a regular basis to the technology team, the technology advanced communication technology joint committee, making sure that we have that um. Oversight as the as the people's representative to ensure that we
know what's happening there. We also um ask the agency to develop a cyber response team, a team that is specifically focused on um moving quickly to mitigate any gaps or risk or incidences that occur within our protective field so that we have the right representatives that are trained to mitigate any ongoing. risk and ensure that we return to a good posture as quickly as
Speaker 81
21:08
possible and minimize the damage that might occur with a, with a particular failure, um, and, uh, yeah, with that, I'll be happy to try to field
Speaker 42
21:20
questions. Thank you, Representative. Any questions from committee, Senator Love. Thank you I think my question is gonna
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
21:26
be similar to the last one I asked. So talk me through the functionality of of this piece of legislation. How's it going to? What's going to, what's going to be the overall effect
Gary Vance
Unverified
21:39
after you implement the change. So the idea of, I might, I might just add a little, uh, a little narrative that Over the past 3 or 4 years that I've been in the position, uh, one of the things that we've established is that we We're doing a decent job at a department level with cybersecurity. Where, where we can improve and do better is when I look at the executive branch as a whole.
And so We have areas outward facing as Representative Richardson said that Put us in a better posture. From, uh, being able to protect ourselves from adversaries that attack us, um. And so the idea with the functional alignment is to Allowing the individuals that are in the departments today that are in our cybersecurity role.
Uh, and, and we will begin to work together as a virtual team or a dotted line team if you will, and we will bring forth these cyber frameworks and cyber strategies that give us a more mature outward facing model than what we have today. Um OK, I'm, I'm looking through
Speaker 105
23:00
the, I'm looking through the bill. Trying to quickly. I
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:04
know. So do you all have a
cybersecurity person in each division in each department, each state agency department. Each
Gary Vance
Unverified
23:15
department today has cybersecurity personnel in their departments today. So now you're going to be coordinating all those,
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:22
you're gonna be quarterbacking those people. That's correct. OK. That's correct. I think the key there, Senator
Speaker 81
23:31
Love, is that we, when we, when we're, uh, when we're looking at an overall posture
Scott Richardson
Unverified
23:37
and making sure that the state
cybersecurity is moving in the right direction as we advance. We want a um, uh, we want a single point of expertise to ensure that the entire state is making the right advancements in cybersecurity at a at a rate that is acceptable to the industry. The reality is at the end of the day we can only, there's only so many cybersecurity experts in the state, um, doing the best that they can, and there's literally millions of outward people
trying to get in at all times, so we need that coordinated effort to ensure that we put forth the best security posture that we have available to us, and that includes things like what kinds of technology we're going to use on the front end, what kinds of of uh of uh interference software that we might use, what kinds of monitoring do we do, what kinds of testing are we doing on a regular basis to ensure that all of our devices that have outwork capabilities have the right um the right patches or the right updates, whatever it happens to be to ensure that those outward
Attackers that are coming toward us that we've mitigated the potential that they might find a gap or might find
Speaker 99
24:51
an opportunity to get through. No, I'm good. I'm good with that. um, how about
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
24:57
the agencies that the state agencies uh work with. So you have, you have institutions of higher education. He had K-12, you have, what about those agent, what about the peripheral agencies that we work with because it's not only it's not only the.
rid of of the agencies themselves, but the other people that we interact with, so, so, talk me through
Gary Vance
Unverified
25:26
that. Uh This particular bill is, is focused on the executive branch, OK, let me add that we, we are a resource and will continue to be a resource, um, for the state. We work with county, we work with K-12. We worked some with higher education and the, and
the spirit of that collaboration is no different than what's in the bill. We, we will work with them to to help them review common cybersecurity controls and practices that will improve, uh, they're given entity. Uh, we've done a lot of work with K-12 over the last two years. Uh, we, we've done a lot of good work working with them to reduce the number of attacks that they uh And ransomware events
Speaker 84
26:14
that they've been experiencing that's that's really my, that's really
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
26:19
my, my main concern because it's not in K-12 is is but the cities in the we have a little smaller cities there's smaller um. Smaller cities, smaller communities that actually interact with the, you know, we're we're shipping them turn back funds we're doing different things like that, so those are kind of my so from a scope perspective, what
Speaker 84
26:39
we looked at in this is the reality is This is a just this portion of
Scott Richardson
Unverified
26:50
the monumental undertaking. Let's get our house in order here and then we're ready to expand that, um, to look at those other opportunities for us to work. The reality is K-12, like UA, they do a wonderful job. They have governmental contracts and things that they have to deal
Speaker 81
27:05
with, so they have to be in the right area, but you're right, the small towns and cities, municipalities, even our, uh, even our county governments, they, they don't have the resources. that they that we could potentially provide from a state level to just say, here's your
framework, this is not go implement it, right? And that's, that's hopefully something in a future iteration of this, but at this point the focus, we really need to get the state agencies, the executive branch in the right order and then we can move forward with other
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
27:34
areas. OK. And my last question is, so you're, you're the, the czar. I'm just gonna call you a czar. You, you're the cybersecurity guar for the state and I apologize.
Gary Vance
Unverified
27:43
I didn't introduce myself. myself while I sat down, so my name is Gary Vance, and I am, I
am the state cybersecurity officer within the Office of State Technology, and so that's my role. OK. So
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
27:57
you're the czar for the subs. I'm gonna call you the, um, do, do we have a just, just from your perspective, not in this bill, but do we have um a functioning uh I went to Georgia probably 3 or 4 years ago and this is why this is interested me so I went to Georgia. And you know, they were, they were connected through for um I
forgot what Fort Fort a military fort that I went to, but they had a whole team of of actually people working on cybersecurity, they're connected to the military, they're connected to high, they connected. Do we have that framework already set up in Arkansas and are you
Gary Vance
Unverified
28:37
a part of that framework, so we, we do not have that framework set up today. However, I will tell you that we, we have been actively working to To get that in place and, and Representative Richardson
mentioned incident response. So one of the things that we're we're currently working on, have been working on for a while, is, um, is to establish what I would call a state. Cyber task force, right? And so this task force would, would, would be made up of, of, of, of a number of entities, state, local, K-12, uh, our National Guard, uh, we, we work with National Guard, uh, with tabletop exercises on incident response, but the idea there is
to stand up a formal Uh, state cyber response task force that we could use to represent the state as a whole, uh, it, it's, it's part of the bill, uh, and it's something that we're focused on and, and we want to use that same functional alignment, if you will, to help to create that. Task force, but it's not in place today, uh, we, we have, uh, we have worked with other
states, North Carolina, uh, Louisiana, some others that I can't think of, but they abused those, those entities as you described to form that task force and so we're collaborating with them as well, um, as we build ours and stand ours up as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 97
30:13
Chair, for your attitude. Senator Scott. OK.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
30:17
Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Fran, thank you for your, yes, sir, enlightening comments and Representative Richardson as well. On page 3 of the bill line uh starting on line 7, it says that uh twice a year that the uh cybersecurity office will In a closed meeting. of this committee, the joint committee, uh, will detail cyber assessment basically twice a year you brief
us in a closed meeting. Mr. Chairman, I'm not I don't remember any closed meetings I've ever sat in in a legislative committee now we've had meetings where nobody from outside showed up, but I've never known about that and I might just want to ask, is this, do we bump up in any kind of uh existing either in our own committee rule would we need to have that clarified in the rule. I know that a lot of this has to
do with uh uh we wouldn't want disclose any methodologies that allow these folks or others in even in other agencies that are outside the executive branch to, to put up defenses against things just like we, we exempted the things that the state police does to secure the governor and her family from, from FOIA because we don't want the bad guys to have access to their methodologies, and I assume that's why we do it this in this
closed meeting, but, and again, Methodologies might not necessarily need to be disclosed, but, but I am concerned that You're going to tell us how many incidents, for example, happened and how they were not the details hopefully, but we resolved this one, this one popped up and and and Senator Lott and I've served on uh uh I thought it
And you have two senators subcommittee where we have uh had uh The, the, the board is escaping me for a moment. ransomware attacks, and we, of course that becomes an audit issue when they actually have to pay some of these crooks to get their data open back up again. I following kind of what we're trying to do here
Scott Richardson
Unverified
32:54
and and Act 5:10 of 2023
established that in code so that we could have closed door meetings, so we have official authorization to do so. Yes sir, we do, and we did that, like I said in 2023. I have the If, if you'd like, I can, sir, that's not necessary. You've answered my question. Thank
Speaker 38
33:13
you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator Johnson. Any other questions? See none
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
33:19
didn't want to speak for or against the bill. Seeing no one, what is the will
of the committee? Motion to pass Senator Johnson, seconded by Senator Love. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. The pole, same side representative,
you passed both your bills. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Thank you committee. Appreciate it. Appreciate you working on that. Senator Petty.
Speaker 120
34:09
uh, Senator District 29. In the center where you're gonna be
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
34:13
running SB 447 or we're over 447 for potential amendment. So this is 498. OK, so we're going to pass over 447 and go to 498.
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
34:26
498 is a law that will be amending the disclosure of driver and vehicle records and,
in short, there's a conflict between the federal and state laws concerning protection of motor vehicle records, protection of our records, Arkansas declares in public records while the federal government requires substantial protections and so SB 498 resolves this conflict and provides additional. protections to our driving records here in Arkansas. Under the Arkansas law. Currently the Arkansas law Restricts courts and law enforcement officers to receiving driver's records for
the purpose of enforcing traffic laws, SB 498 allows more access to those records for courts and law enforcement who need those for other crimes and uh SB 498 498 creates a single standard of releasing those motor vehicle records and drivers' records rather than having multiple standards. In different code sections and then finally this current Arkansas law prohibits the disclosure of digital driver's license photos other than with the approval of the driver and
SB 498 allows that disclosure of the digital drivers license, uh, photos to courts and law enforcement agencies, and I have DFNA here if you want to add something to that, um. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Mr. Chair,
Speaker 52
35:51
members of the committee, Alicia Austin Smith the DFA, Senator Petty did an excellent job explaining it, you know, this is agency legislation that we are bringing, we, we are needing to clean up our, our, our laws in this area. It's probably been coming for a long
time. Essentially, if you were to go and look at the motor vehicle record provisions in the code or the driver's record provisions,
Speaker 57
36:14
they right now say that all of your records are open to the public, right? Anyone could come and
Speaker 52
36:20
get any of your records, all of your vehicles. accidents or all of your driving records. Now they can't because of federal law, right? But that doesn't stop an individual from thinking that they can, they can get access to all of those records and so we need to make sure that that our code is, is compliant with federal law, that everything's clean, and if you
look at the actual bill, it's just very, very straightforward as to who's going to be able to get these records, you know, the essentially the first half of the bill talks about the, your motor vehicle record. So there's a difference between, you know, the, the registration record of your vehicle and then your driving records. So the first part is, is talking about who can get access to your motor vehicle record and that's going to be very limited to yourself, the person that you've authorized a court, an attorney with a subpoena actually in a court
action or government agencies and law enforcement agencies. So it's very, very streamlined. It, it provides clarity for the public. It provides clarity for our employees as to who is exactly is entitled to that information and then same thing if you go. Down to the driver services record which really starts on page 4. This is your actual, you know, driver confirmation record or your abstract of your information. Same thing, you know, your, yourself, the person that you've authorized a a court an attorney
with a subpoena, um, it does not change the law about your employer has access to that information if they're employing you in a driving capacity, um, an insurance company, those sorts of individuals. So it's really just cleaning up what we're already doing right now. The only thing it's actually adding to the law is right now law enforcement they can get a copy of your digital driver's license photo under the Arkansas. Information Center ACIC, but if that goes down, we need the ability to share that photograph with law enforcement. Usually
they're, they're working in real time and you know, you think about an Amber Alert or something like that, we need to be able to provide that to them, so that's the only thing that the bill is adding that we do not currently have and we're happy to answer any questions. Thank you. My
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
38:26
question will be a little bit off the record here. With the with the digital driver's license is every state accepting
Speaker 119
38:34
that now? I don't know. I, I would. I'd be hard pressed to answer that because so many states do
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
38:43
so many things differently, but, and digital driver's license is fairly, fairly new, so I would say uh my personal opinion would be that not all of them are recognizing them yet, but I don't know that. I can't answer that affirmative. And when you're thank you Senator Petty,
Speaker 46
38:56
that's correct when you're talking about is every state recognizing it? I mean, even in the context of Arkansas just because we have
Speaker 52
39:01
a digital driver's license does not mean that law enforcement have to accept that on the side of the road, for example. So it's even limited right now within the state. We are certainly issuing
Speaker 46
39:13
it, but that doesn't mean that anyone has to actually accept
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
39:16
it, so we need to make sure we have a hard copy plus the
Speaker 52
39:20
digital if we have that you are required to continue to carry your hard copy at this time. Yes, that's correct, you know, they, they will need that technology to be able to actually accept your digital driver's
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
39:30
license on the side of the interstate. OK, thank you. That saves me if
Speaker 127
39:33
I get pulled over when I'm out of hard
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
39:36
copy of your license as well. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had an incident yesterday that
that kind of piqued my interest. I was flying back to Little Rock from Denver and I went to the TSA. PreCheck desk with my phone had my boarding pass on it and I had my license and I offered him my driver's license. I don't need it. And I realized he had it and they, they, you know, they take your picture and I assume what he's doing is comparing it to the driver's license photo,
which is the real ID it's the one that's got the star on it. I don't know what you call that, but, but that's, this is all being done anyway and obviously since it's TSA, this is the federal standard that we're complying with. OK, I, I, I have to admit, Big Brother kind of coming at me from all. directions does bother me a little bit, but I, I was shocked that he didn't actually need to see either on my phone or in the physical license, he said, I don't need it, so, but that's because of what you just told us. That's correct. And also I
Speaker 52
40:45
think all of us are probably a little bit more behind on technology than some of the younger individuals, but you know, essentially all of that's digital now, the back of your driver's license is a barcode that's scannibal, and you think about your passport as well, that's actually digital information that the Fed has access to.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
40:59
OK, all right, thank you. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none. Is
there anyone here to speak for or against the bill. Saying no one, what is the
will of the committee? Motion do pass by Senator Scott,
seconded by Senator Johnson. Although in or any discussion. All those in favor say aye, pole, same side. Center, you passed your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
OK. OK, committee. Seeing no one else here to run any bills this morning. We will stand in recess until 15 minutes after adjournment of the session. Yes sir, Oat Spring Court or
no more room. So so that that's where we are, so we'll be in recess until
That time, so thank you everyone for coming. Senator Scott. I can't hear you. OK. So thank you very much.
Agenda
CALL TO ORDER
REGULAR AGENDA
SB397 D. Wallace TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL INFORMATION OF RAIL EMPLOYEES IN REPORTS INVOLVING RAILROAD FATALITIES.
SB498 J. Petty TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF DRIVER AND VEHICLE RECORDS AND TO PROTECT DRIVER AND VEHICLE RECORDS FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.
HB1654 Tosh TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF A SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE FOR THE MAKEA-WISH FOUNDATION OF THE MID SOUTH; AND TO ADDRESS THE INVENTORY OF THE MID-SOUTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE.
HB1606 Steimel TO ALLOW A LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE OPERATION OF A UTILITY TASK VEHICLE ON A DESIGNATED PUBLIC STREET OR HIGHWAY WITHIN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT'S JURISDICTION SUBJECT TO CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS.
HB1688 Cavenaugh TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE USE OF A DEALER'S EXTRA LICENSE PLATE.
HB1557 R. Scott Richardson TO AMEND THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE DIVISION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONCERNING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY .
HB1549 R. Scott RichardsonTO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CYBERSECURITY ACT OF 2025
ADJOURNED
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — TRANSPORTATION, TECHNOLOGY & LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS - SENATE, Mar 31, 2025 | Agenda | 2 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
Speaker 11
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 28
Speaker 26
Speaker 29
Speaker 32
Speaker 37
Speaker 42
Speaker 46
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 52
Speaker 54
Speaker 59
Speaker 64
Speaker 38
Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 81
Speaker 84
Speaker 86
Speaker 92
Speaker 94
Gary Vance
Unverified
Speaker 105
Speaker 99
Speaker 97
Speaker 119
Speaker 120
Senator Jim Petty
Unverified
Speaker 57
Speaker 127