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Watch on Washington Top 5- October 2018

By Danielle Clements posted Oct 29,2018 12:00 PM

  
  1. DHS Cyber agency bill passes both chambers In early October, the Senate passed H.R. 3359 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 which codifies an agency of the same name within DHS to lead cyber and critical infrastructure programs. The House passed the measure in late 2017.
  2. Blockchain the "most over-hyped technology ever" In a Senate Banking Committee hearing, NYU professor Nouriel Roubini testified that cryptocurrencies were a scam and said blockchain technology was "nothing better than a glorified spreadsheet." The other hearing witness, Coin Center director of research Peter Van Valkenburgh, similarly focused not on blockchain but why "decentralized computing" is the technology that matters.
  3. Secretaries of State release principles to guide future federal funding The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) adopted an interim position which urges Congress to consider several principles regarding future federal funding, including: emergence of cyber threats, control of distributed Help America Vote Act funds by chief state election officials, value of DHS no-cost assistance (e.g. scans, assessments, pen testing etc.), among others. The interim position was adopted by the association board and will be voted on by the full membership in February 2019. 
  4. A-87 exception to expire at end of year CMS recently released an FAQ document that provides guidance on how states should prepare for the expiration of the A-87 exception on December 31, 2018. OMB's A-87 cost allocation rule required that costs for IT systems that support multiple health and human service programs (in addition to Medicaid) be allocated across benefiting programs; the A-87 exception enable states to allocate the cost to Medicaid. 
  5. Next Generation 9-1-1 cost estimate $9.5 -12.7 billion A congressionally mandated National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study estimated that deployment of NG911 would cost between $9.5 and 12.7 billion and would take ten years to implement, assuming no delays. The cost estimate report examines the feasibility of migration from legacy 911 to NG911 under three implementation scenarios.  

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