ST. PAUL, Minn. — Today, the Minnesota Senate State and Local Government Committee heard Senate File 379, authored by Senator Melissa H. Wiklund (DFL – Bloomington). This bill creates a dedicated fund to assist counties, cities, and townships in updating their critical IT systems in order to prevent significant damaging incidents from cyber-attacks and ransomware incidents. The bill arose from discussions in the Legislative Commission on Cybersecurity, of which Senator Wiklund is a member.
“Given the frequency of cyber-attacks, it is imperative that counties and cities have the resources to defend their critical infrastructure and Minnesotans’ sensitive personal data,” said Senator Wiklund. “We have local governments struggling to access funds just to get to baseline levels of cybersecurity infrastructure. This bill gives us the opportunity to protect Minnesota towns, cities, and counties in all corners of our state.”
Of the 150 cities in Minnesota with populations above 5,000, only 83 employ IT staff or some type of managed service. The other 702 cities in Minnesota have no dedicated IT staff and, on average, have seven full-time employees working for the city. These cities have minimal technology and lack minimum hardware and software capabilities.
Eligible expenditures will be evaluated based on need, with a focus on minimizing overall risk across all local government entities. Investments will prioritize ensuring the availability of systems essential to critical infrastructure and public services, safeguarding public data, and supporting local government compliance with state laws, executive orders, and industry best practices.
Examples of eligible expenditures are:
- General IT services
- Onsite network storage devices and hardware backup solutions
- Managed email hosting and productivity & collaboration software
- Anti-virus and endpoint detection and response software
- Firewalls, network switches, and other networking hardware
The bill has bipartisan support. It is also supported by the League of Minnesota Cities, the Association of Minnesota Counties, and the Minnesota Association of Townships.
The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the committee omnibus bill. You can view the entire bill presentation here.
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