{"id":182160,"date":"2026-01-27T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/state-led-ai-policy-cyber-grant-funding-firstnet-in-nascios-2026-federal-advocacy-priorities\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:00:13","slug":"state-led-ai-policy-cyber-grant-funding-firstnet-in-nascios-2026-federal-advocacy-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/state-led-ai-policy-cyber-grant-funding-firstnet-in-nascios-2026-federal-advocacy-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"State-led AI policy, cyber grant funding, FirstNet in NASCIO’s 2026 federal advocacy priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

State-led AI policy, cyber grant funding, FirstNet in NASCIO’s 2026 federal advocacy priorities<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/statescoop.com\/state-ai-policy-cyber-grant-funding-firstnet-nascio\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-01-27 17:44:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: statescoop.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers, the group that represents states\u2019 top technology officials, on Tuesday revealed a new set of policies it will prioritize as it petitions Washington on behalf of its membership this year.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s annual list of \u201cfederal advocacy priorities,\u201d changes only little from year to year, and this year still favors a federal AI policy that respects state autonomy, reauthorization of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, support for broader adoption of the .gov top-level domain on government websites and a streamlining of the many redundant or conflicting federal cybersecurity standards that states must follow.<\/p>\n

The biggest change this year is that NASCIO swapped out advocacy for policies that would bolster states\u2019 cybersecurity workforces, for a call to reauthorize FirstNet, the government public safety communications network operated by AT&T. Alex Whitaker, NASCIO\u2019s director of government affairs, said workforce is, of course, still important to state IT offices, but that reauthorizing FirstNet was judged to be a more \u201cpressing priority\u201d this year.<\/p>\n

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has a hearing scheduled Wednesday to \u201cexamine the front lines of connectivity, focusing on FirstNet\u2019s role in public safety.\u201d The First Responder Network Authority, the independent authority that manages the network, would see its authorization expire Feb. 22.\u00a0 A survey last November found that 93% of first responders supported reauthorizing FirstNet.<\/p>\n

Congress created FirstNet in 2012 as an answer to interoperability issues faced by first responders on Sept. 11, 2001. According to NASCIO, state CIOs also depend on the network during times of crisis, \u201cto ensure their state\u2019s first responders have the technological recourse they need to assist in disaster response and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASCIO is also continuing to advocate for \u201cstates leading the way\u201d on matters of artificial intelligence policy, a diversion from efforts out of the White House, and Congress, to preempt states from enforcing their own laws on artificial intelligence. Outside of some industry support, President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order last December and numerous efforts by Congress last year to ram through such AI legislation have been unpopular. NASCIO, noting it was \u201cdeeply concerned,\u201d was among the many groups to have signed off on public letters condemning the effort to undermine state autonomy.<\/p>\n

Whitaker noted that \u201cstates have not had the luxury of waiting around on the federal government to develop an implementation and use policy,\u201d and so they have enacted, and continue to introduce, hundreds of their own AI laws for purposes ranging from protecting children from being deepfaked to ensuring that employees aren\u2019t unfairly monitored at work. \u201cThey\u2019ve put in a lot of best practices, they\u2019ve done a lot of really good and innovative work,\u201d Whitaker said of the states, and admitted that he understands the tech industry\u2019s desire for a more uniform regulatory landscape \u2014 \u201cBut just putting in a blanket moratorium saying that states can\u2019t enact their own laws is just a nonstarter for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congressional appropriators last week announced funding legislation that would renew numerous programs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and extend the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program.<\/p>\n

The grant program, bigly popular among state and local technology officials, could also be renewed by legislation in the House or Senate, though the bills differ considerably, Whitaker said. The House last November passed the PILLAR Act, which would reauthorize the program until 2033. After absorbing $1 billion for the first four years of the program, a new funding amount hasn\u2019t been settled, but Whitaker said state CIOs are chiefly interested in not seeing the program disappear: \u201cWe want stability in both the timeline and the funding levels and amounts, because it\u2019s hard for states to plan without that. Are we happy with the current funding level? No, because the need is always increasing. It\u2019s never going down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\tWritten by Colin Wood
\n\t\t\tColin Wood is the editor in chief of StateScoop and EdScoop. He’s reported on government information technology policy for more than a decade, on topics including cybersecurity, IT governance and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

colin.wood@statescoop.com<\/p>\n

Signal: cwood.64\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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