Report Title:
Technology; Alternate Data Center; Appropriation
Description:
Appropriates an unspecified amount for an interim alternate data center site and a business plan for its implementation. (SD1)
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
710 |
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TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Government operations are increasingly dependent on reliable information processing and telecommunication services as more of the State's services become automated. Any major breakdown or interruption of information processing and telecommunication services would severely impact the ability of state agencies to continue their business operations and serve the public. The State's information processing and telecommunications networks and support infrastructure are mission-critical state resources that require a far higher level of contingency planning, emergency preparedness, and disaster prevention to assure that services will not be disrupted by natural disasters or terrorist activities.
The October, 2006, earthquakes that shook the islands of Hawaii would have been devastating to the State's automated information processing and telecommunications services if the needs placed upon the information and communication services division's current back-up generator exceeded its capacity. The fact that the news of Hawaii's massive earthquake, power outage, and blackout was instantaneously transmitted around the world while people in the State waited for hours to learn what had happened and the steps being taken to restore power safely resulted in a public outcry for a public utilities commission investigation and the prevention of future blackouts.
Hawaii's status as a premier travel destination and the likelihood of ongoing international security threats only underscore the importance of Hawaii pursuing its own disaster preparedness strategies. The State lags far behind in establishing a disaster recovery/business continuity program, including a data center recovery site and a business continuity plan that specifies the policies and processes to activate and operate the recovery site.
The Gartner Group documented the urgency of Hawaii's needs in a study entitled, State of Hawaii Assessment of Central Data Center Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategies, 19 December 2005, conducted in accordance with a proviso in section 78 of Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005. The Gartner Group noted that the State is in a critical and precarious environment without access to an alternate data processing service when the central data center is out of service. If the central data center is inoperable, the State will experience an extended disruption of its ability to continue and restore its daily business processes after a disaster or other disruptive event. State agencies will be unable to pay over sixty thousand state employees and contractors, process welfare checks to over ten thousand recipients, provide health related services or otherwise procure, regulate, or undertake a wide variety of services to the public that are now provided by telephone, over the Internet, or even through face to face transactions. The State would not be able to perform financial transactions, nor would the State be able to ensure continuity of health and safety services without operational computers and networks.
Based on the analysis of the strategies available to the State, the State's most viable strategy is to immediately acquire the capability to recover and restore its information processing and telecommunication services if these services are disrupted by a natural disaster or malicious activity. The State should concurrently work on the implementation of an interim alternate data center site equipped with sufficient processing capability, alternate plans and means of network connectivity, business continuity plans to ensure the timely restoration of public services, especially those related to health and public safety, and the development of a solution for a permanent alternate data center site.
The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the information processing services program to implement an interim alternate data center to restore information processing and telecommunication service in the event of natural disasters or other public safety disasters, and a business plan for its implementation.
SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, for the information processing services program to implement an interim alternate data center site and a business continuity plan, while a solution for a permanent alternate data center site is developed.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of accounting and general services for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.