Tech bills of the week: Mitigating risks to critical infrastructure; incentivizing domestic high-tech manufacturing; and more

Sen. Rick Scott introduced measures to combat cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure services. The Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act would create a joint interagency task force to detect, analyze, and respond to Chinese-connected threat actors. The task force would be led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and would share analysis, inspections, audits, and other relevant information to align with Sector Risk Management Agencies and other departments. Scott and Sen. Andy Kim introduced the Maritime Cybersecurity Act, directing the Department of Homeland Security to conduct annual vulnerability assessments of software and hardware used at maritime facilities. Sens. Ruben Gallego and Jim Justice also proposed a 25% tax credit for domestically made printed circuit boards used in semiconductor and AI systems.

"The first, the Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act, would establish a joint interagency task force to detect, analyze and respond to Chinese-connected threat actors. Scott's office said in a press release that the group would be helmed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and would "align and reinforce the work of Sector Risk Management Agencies and other key departments by sharing analysis, inspections, audits, and other relevant information.""

"Scott, alongside Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also rolled out the Maritime Cybersecurity Act to address digital threats to critical waterways and related systems. That proposal would direct the Department of Homeland Security to conduct annual vulnerability assessments of the software and hardware used at maritime facilities to identify cyber weaknesses."

""America's enemies are looking for vulnerabilities and cracks in our armor," Scott said in a statement. "Facilitating basic assessments to identify our weaknesses in security is a commonsense measure to keep American assets safe both domestic and abroad. My bill makes sure our trade and waters cannot be disrupted by bad actors, especially the Chinese Communist Party.""

"To help incentivize the domestic production of printed circuit boards, Sens. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Jim Justice, R-W.V., introduced legislation earlier this week to offer a 25% tax credit for purchases or acquisitions of domestically-made PCBs. The circuit boards play a key role in the semiconductors that underpin many artificial intelligence tools, since they are the physical foundations on which the chips operate."

Read at Nextgov.com