AUSTIN- Today, The Texas House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed Chairman Giovanni Capriglione’s HB 150, the bill establishing one of the Governor Greg Abbott’s priorities, the Texas Cyber Command. Senator Tan Parker will now pick the bill up as it works its way through the Texas Senate.
The Texas Cyber Command aims to
- Establish a purpose-built standalone cyber agency
- Protect our most critical assets from increased foreign cyberattacks, namely from Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea
- Introduce and proactively evaluate cybersecurity standards for government entities, oversee intelligence, response, and digital forensics operations, and support state and local government cybersecurity initiatives
- Position Texas as a global leader for cyber response and resilience
- Leverage regional strengths of San Antonio-UTSA, private sector, Air Force, FBI and more to perpetually refine and bolster the operational posture of Texas Cyber Command
In recent years, Texas has seen a marked uptick in costly cybersecurity attacks from hostile foreign nations, targeting our precious water supply,” said David Dunmoyer, Director for TPPF’s Better Tech for Tomorrow campaign. “The House passing HB 150 sends a strong signal to the world: don’t mess with Texas. We are encouraged to see the overwhelming support of this commonsense bill as it now makes its way through the Senate.”