Priorities Podcast

Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program brought about by H.R. 1 could mean millions or even billions of dollars of additional costs for states. The civic tech nonprofit Code for America is helping some states reduce their error rates, through technology and process changes, to help them reduce the benefit amount they’d be required to cover, as opposed to by federal dollars, after...

Last year was “the year when [privacy] bills came online,” says David Botero, a state data privacy fellow at the nonprofit IAPP. He joins the Priorities Podcast to reflect on a year that he also called “the year of amendments,” in which a handful of states changed their privacy laws in influential ways. He says the year also brought new trends in how sensitive data is classified. The coming year,...

The past year has brought shifting priorities for states’ top technology officials. Artificial intelligence tops the list of annual priorities published by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Accessibility is also in the spotlight as states rush to remediate their websites ahead of an April deadline set by the Department of Justice. And budget concerns are mounting. “It’s...

After two years of research into how states are using and thinking about AI, New America has published an expansive report that its creators say contains encouraging signs. Lilian Coral, vice president of New America's technology and democracy programs, and Neil Kleiman, urban policy professor at Northeastern University’s public policy school, tell the Priorities Podcast that the implications of g...

Quite a few states have innovation programs, mechanisms for jumpstarting new and interesting ways to improve government, but Nicholas Stowe, Washington state's outgoing chief technology officer, shares on this week’s Priorities Podcast why he thinks his state’s innovation and modernization program has enjoyed an especially favorable success rate. “We really tried to maximize reusing existing gover...

The extended government shutdown has begun to strain state and local governments usually dependent on reimbursement checks for major projects and support from officials who haven’t been in their offices, according to Justin Marlowe, a research professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Marlowe tells the Priorities Podcast that the shutdown is causing project delays, a...

A learning program for notaries in Indiana was not getting good reviews. Robert Fulk, the chief information officer for the Indiana Secretary of State’s office said people thought it was outdated, long, repetitive and clunky. And it was, until his office redesigned it from top to bottom using AI. Artificial intelligence is now infused into every aspect of the program, from its instructional conten...

Star Wars and disco were hip when Kansas built its previous unemployment insurance system and it was “sufficient,” Kansas Labor Secretary Amber Shultz says. But on the latest episode of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast, Shultz describes how, over the course of two years, the state transformed that system into a modern one, with a modern user interface. A system that had to be taken offline constant...

Ratna Dougherty, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida’s Public Affairs school, joins the Priorities Podcast to explain how the government shutdown is affecting disaster relief efforts. One change, Dougherty says, is that state and local governments face a more complex process in applying to receive support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There could be other chal...

Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, joins the Priorities Podcast this week to explain why “uncertainty” is the word of the year for state technology leaders. “That has a lot to do with obviously the states’ fiscal conditions and uncertainty there, federal funding uncertainty, and just the turbulence in terms of just overall relationshi...

Diversity, equity and inclusion are dirty words in Trump’s America, and though many private companies and government agencies have rebranded such efforts in 2025, equity lives on in New York City. Digital Inclusion Week is underway in New York, where Paolo Balboa, the city’s first chief digital equity officer says “call it what you will,” but equity work is progressing. On StateScoop’s Priorities...

On this episode of the Priorities podcast, James Barros, administrator of the Emergency Management Agency in Hawaii, joins us to discuss the results of the September tests. He said the tests showed the need for clearer evacuation messaging in emergency alerts, tailored to each person’s physical location. Details, such as whether residents are in buildings, on the beach or at high elevation, that e...

Tarek Tomes, the chief information officer of Minnesota, and Katie Savage, Maryland’s CIO, may be separated by 1,000 miles, but they have at least one thing in common when it comes to their work: They both have directives from their governors to support child and family services. Gov. Tim Walz has said he wants to make Minnesota the best state in the nation to raise a family. And Gov. Wes Moore ha...

On this episode of the Priorities podcast, Colorado Representative Brianna Titone reflects on the state legislature’s decision to delay implementing the Colorado AI Act, the state’s high-risk artificial intelligence legislation, until the end of June 2026. She expresses disappointment with the watered-down bill and the pressure from big tech companies, like Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce, to opp...

The Digital Benefits Network, part of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University, released a report this week focused on understanding the experience applicants have when applying for public benefits online, specifically account creation and identity verification. Elizabeth Bynum Sorrell, Senior Manager at the Digital Benefits Network, joins StateScoop’s Priorities...

Elizabeth Dunn, a faculty member at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health, joins the Priorities Podcast to share her expertise on the technology and psychology behind hurricane evacuation orders. She says that storms are becoming stronger and developing more quickly, elevating the importance of governments issuing clear messages. And many people who receive evacuation orders i...

Jennifer Hickerson, a senior manager who specializes in telecommunications at the professional services firm Baker Tilly, joins the Priorities Podcast this week to explain how changes to the BEAD program are affecting the outcomes in states. Final proposal submissions from states are due next week. Each state has been a different approach to how it seeks vendors and the types of technologies it pu...

This week, the Colorado state legislature will meet for a special session, called by Gov. Jared Polis, to discuss, revise, and potentially delay the Colorado AI Act. Tyler Thompson, a partner at Reed Smith, joins StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast to say he’s worried about the law's effectiveness, especially with the federal government, after the release of its AI Action Plan, threatening to withhold...

A new directory and mapping tool is helping nonprofits, governments and members of the public better understand which benefits programs are being offered around the country. Jennifer Phillips, with the Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, joins StateScoop's Priorities Podcast to explain why the new tools are such a helpful component of the group's work. "O...

The Homelessness Prevention Unit in the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, is seeing signs of success in reducing the homelessness in the county. Launched in 2021, the program uses a predictive model, developed by the California Policy Lab, to proactively reach people at the highest risk of becoming homeless and connect them to stabilizing services before they lose their housing. Da...

This week’s Priorities Podcast is joined by Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who explains why he’s concerned about an AI-powered tool being adopted by police departments. The tool is Axon's Draft One, which pulls audio from body cam footage to help officers draft police reports. Following a recent investigation into how the technology works, Guarigl...

On this week's Priorities Podcast, we're joined by Center for Humane Technology's Pete Furlong and Transparency Coalition.ai's Rob Eleveld to discuss the impacts of AI companion chat bots. As AI companion chatbots become more sophisticated and accessible, so do the risks—especially for children. Hear this conversation covering what policymakers, parents, and the tech industry need to know now to p...

This week we’re joined by North Carolina Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione, and Bernice Russell-Bond, the state’s chief information security officer. They share details of an upcoming cybersecurity internship program hoped to create a pipeline of talent for the state government. Starting next August, 10 college students will get a chance to work for the state as part-time interns, learning...

Over the July 4th weekend, extreme rainfall in Central Texas caused catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River, leaving over 100 people dead and 160 people missing. Amidst the devastation, one question remains: in an area known as “flash flood alley,” why wasn’t there a flood warning system in place? This week, the Priorities Podcast reruns an episode from last year that centered on the alert...

Just in time for another hot California summer, the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment this year launched CalHeatScore, a data-powered tool that’s designed to help local governments and their constituencies better prepare for levels of heat that can become health hazards. On this week’s Priorities Podcast, Walker Wieland, manager of the office’s Extreme Heat Ranking System De...