HB598

I'm supportive of efficiency measures to streamline government operations, but I'd want safeguards on a) data security and privacy on government program data sources, especially those taken out of context by committee members with little or no experience in specific programs, and b) rolling out proposed changes without understanding downstream impacts to program recipients. Suggest: - Including verbiage spelling out that the first step is to ask program operators to conduct an internal audit of data sources and be specific about ensuring proper explanations are included so committee members may understand why data elements are needed, - Ensure data format changes are backwards-compatible, meaning updating to a new, improved format does not break existing systems and their reporting, causing costly churn and negatively impacting program recipients.