Rep. Mike Bare on cybersecurity, child care and remote work

"I think that's a legitimate concern, but it's one that we heard about in committee through testimony from state workers and from managers about three-factor authentication and safeguards that have been put in place for state workers to have to do in order to work safely from home. Now, there was one recommendation from a Legislative Audit Bureau audit that we, the Legislature, pass a bill to be able to address security concerns, and we haven't passed a bill like that yet."

"So, we haven't done our work before telling others how to do their work. So, I think there are some things here that we could certainly address, but that's a matter of getting, the executive branch, legislative branch together to talk about this and talk to local governments who are implicated in these changes, too, in cybersecurity concerns. And so, that's a much bigger, broader process than what's being talked about very narrowly with this bill."

"I'm not sure I follow that logic. I think there are certainly costs and things we have to do on child care. We have not done our part in this state. We've seen other states like Connecticut who have gone in a very far, progressive, good direction on things like child care, and we haven't done that. So, if there's concerns about costs of child care - let's do some of that work. But this bill, I don't think does anything to address those."

Cybersecurity risks from employees working from home on unsecured connections are recognized as legitimate concerns. State workers and managers testified about three-factor authentication and other safeguards already implemented for remote work. A Legislative Audit Bureau audit recommended that the Legislature pass a bill to address security concerns, but no such bill has been passed. Legislative work should precede mandates on others. Addressing cybersecurity requires coordinated discussions between the executive branch, the legislative branch, and affected local governments. Claims that taxpayers are absorbing child care costs for remote state employees are questioned. Child care needs exist and the bill does not address them.

Read at PBS Wisconsin