State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Texas bills would downsize state’s data centers, mandate cloud

StateScoop: Lawmakers in Texas will consider two bills that would shrink the state government’s two data centers and compel agencies to store their information on a cloud platform like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. The legislation was prompted by concerns that the cost of maintaining the two facilities has exploded over the past decade, and that lawmakers have not had oversight of how state technology officials awarded the contract to run the data centers.

One bill would require state agencies to consider cloud storage “when making purchases for a major information resources project,” according to the Texas Tribune, which first reported the legislation.

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