Texas House Bill 150 and EMS Agencies

A bill in the Texas House of Representatives would shift responsibility from the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) toa new agency the Texas Cyber Command.

C.S.H.B. 150 provides for the establishment of the Texas Cyber Command as a component institution of The University of Texas System. The bill transfers to the command certain of the powers and duties relating to cybersecurity that are currently assigned under the Information Resources Management Act to the Department of Information Resources (DIR) and certain duties relating to regional network security centers under statutes governing the Texas computer network security system that are also currently assigned to DIR. The bill also sets out transition and procedural provisions relating to the transfer of the applicable powers and duties from DIR to the command.

The bill among other provisions includes:

The command to do the following:

• promote public awareness of cybersecurity issues;

• develop cybersecurity best practices and minimum standards for governmental entities;

• develop and provide training to state agencies and covered entities on cybersecurity measures and awareness.

This could have a significant impact on EMS agencies such as ESDs to implement policies and procedures to achieve compliance.

Link to HB150: 89(R) HB 150 - Introduced version