3190

VETOES

legality of the Phase I plan, and, in doing so, to discuss
at length the issues of the security, privacy, and retrieval
of information used by components of the criminal justice
system and contained in the Public Safety Data Center. 63
Opinions of the Attorney General (January 10, 1978). These
issues were of major concern in last year's veto of House
Bill 459.

The Phase I reorganization plan was approved by the
General Assembly in the Budget. At the same time, House
Bill 948 was presented to the General Assembly to provide
the statutory authority and policy for the "full cooperation
and cohesive planning and effort by and between the several
State departments and agencies" with the objective of
ensuring the maximum benefit from current and future data
processing activities. The bill, as drafted, resolved the
objections raised by House Bill 459 of 1977. It was a far
superior product and represented an additional year's
consideration of the issues raised in the veto of House Bill
459.

In an uncodified section of House Bill 948, the
Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning is directed to
adhere to a three—phase schedule for the reorganization of
the State's data processing resources. The phases are
essentially the same as those contained in the veto message
of House Bill 459, with the addition of specific deadlines
for the completion of each phase. Phase I, as contained in
House Bill 948, is the same Phase described in the Budget
Bill.

House Bill 94 8 directs the Department of Budget and
Fiscal Planning to institute plans and procedures and
promulgate rules and regulations for all State data
processing activities. These include the monitoring of the
security of data stored in the data centers, the sharing
with, or the sale or lease of data processing services among
governmental agencies, the approval of data processing
contracts and acquisitions for all State agencies, and the
management of a process of competitive bidding for the
procurement of most data processing equipment and goods.

The duties imposed upon the Department of Budget and
Fiscal Planning by House Bill 948 are stated to be in
addition to its duties under Article 15A, Section 23B of the
Code. This Section charges the Secretary of the Department
with the responsibility for "planning and controlling data
processing in the several departments and agencies of the
State government". It further provides that the Secretary
shall review and approve the purchase, lease, or rental of
data processing equipment for all State departments and
agencies.

House Bill 948 originally applied to all State
agencies, departments, boards, commissions, or institutions