TX Legislative General Update and Update Impacting Information Technology Purchases and Renewals.

Greetings TACUPA Colleagues,

General Updates https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/open-government/governmental-bodies/2021-texas-legislative-session-update

Update of note:

In the 87th Legislative Session, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 475, requiring the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) to establish a state risk and authorization management program that provides “a standardized approach for security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud computing services that process the data of a state agency.”

This may effect any Information Technology program you purchased in the past or are considering in the future.

To comply with the new bill, DIR established a framework for collecting information about cloud services security posture and assessing responses for compliance with required controls and documentation.

Texas Government Code § 2054.0593 mandates that state agencies must only enter or renew contracts to receive cloud computing services that comply with TX-RAMP requirements beginning January 1, 2022.

If you have any questions about this new law, please follow the following link for more information.

https://dir.texas.gov/texas-risk-and-authorization-management-program-tx-ramp