Working to connect New Yorkers and improve local governance

In 2021, Assembly Member Steven Otis became the first chair of the Committee on Science and Technology, which he had advocated for the creation of. Since then, the Westchester County legislator has worked on financing clean water infrastructure projects, expanding universal broadband access for New Yorkers without internet access and deploying electric vehicle charging infrastructure around the state. Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2013, he was the mayor of the city of Rye, located along the Long Island Sound, for 12 years. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does a “smart city” mean to you? Is New York a smart state?

Most municipalities start at a baseline. Their No. 1 responsibility is to provide the services that are needed and expected at the initial level – the roads, the traffic, the water infrastructure, facilities, recreation, garbage if they’re doing sanitation – but communities should always be trying to do things better and use the best information that’s out there in the in the field. 

So, New York state has provided, through a variety of state agencies, smart community initiatives, whether they’ve been through the Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of State, Department of Transportation. A variety of programs over the years have encouraged higher-quality planning, using data and the best knowledge in the field to upgrade a variety of services. DEC has a Climate Smart Communities program that has provided grant funding to communities for over a decade. The Department of State has provided innovation and planning grants and initiatives that also support the smart communities concept. DOT has their Safe Streets initiatives, which are traffic and pedestrian safety planning initiatives. All of these things encourage local governments to do above and beyond standard operating procedure of what they do to run their community, but to use the best knowledge that’s out there in the field to improve whatever service.

In what ways could the state improve in being a smart community?

The smart cities concept is very much about data and metrics and understanding new needs and addressing them. One of the areas that I have done significant work on is water infrastructure funding. In New York, through the Environmental Facilities Corp., the biggest water infrastructure grant program in the country is here. This very much follows, again, this smart cities concept of upgrading infrastructure, using engineering science to do that in the right way, which, of course, means cleaner water, cleaner environment, less leakage of drinking water through adequate systems. These are smart city concepts, and that’s been one of my big priorities. The Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant programs that started in 2015 is an example of using science and engineering to encourage better outcomes at the local level, and the state has made a significant financial contribution toward those programs so far. Over $2.8 billion in grants over 1,000 projects in a decade, a good example of using technology and science to deliver better outcomes at the local level.

Where does New York stand in terms of universal broadband connectivity? What plans does the Legislature have for this session in terms of the implementation of this program by Empire State Development? What more needs to be done during the budget?

In terms of broadband expansion, most of this, within New York state, has been driven through Empire State Development. There’s an office called the ConnectALL Office, and they have been the catalyst for the last 3 1/2 years of guiding the broadband expansion program in the state, a lot of that funded with federal dollars. That’s been the priority. Practically all of the federal dollars that have come into New York for this purpose has gone toward broadband expansion infrastructure, which is very important.

How long have you been chair of the Assembly Committee on Science and Technology? How did 2024 compare to past years in terms of the committee’s output?

This is the fifth year of the committee’s existence, and I am the first chair of the committee. I advocated for it being elevated to a full committee and our first year was 2021. The major focuses of the committee are on three areas that are intertwined: cybersecurity, data privacy and artificial intelligence. All three of those, they all overlap with each other in different ways, but those are some of the sort of priority areas that we analyze. We’ve done a number of bills to deal with cybersecurity protections that have been signed into law in the last few years, a bill a few years ago to improve statutory protection for critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. Those kinds of issues come up with legislation that is often somewhat technical but important in bolstering our protection against attacks.

What were the most notable bills that came through the committee last year?

Last year, our most significant bill was a bill having to do with artificial intelligence governance. It was a bill that was signed by the governor, with chapter amendments, that governed the use of AI by state agencies as mostly related to using it in employment. What the legislation ended up doing is it required the Office of (Information) Technology Services to create an inventory of AI tools that are used by state agencies for these purposes and to post information about those tools on a state website so the public is aware of what AI tools are being used, and so that if someone sees that an AI system is being used that others think maybe has problems with it, they have an ability to then comment and provide feedback. If there wasn’t this public inventory and disclosure, you wouldn’t know what AI tools are being used.

What are your top tech-oriented legislative priorities for this session? What would have the most impact?

I’m going to go back to digital inclusion programs. It has always been a priority, going back to 2021, and so we continue to advocate for that kind of work, because it’s very, very important. We’re going to continue to be looking at cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data privacy issues in progress in all three areas. Certainly very interested in the issue of and exploring the degree to which cybersecurity, cyber-theft enforcement and investigation can be improved. (It’s a) very difficult topic, because many of the players in that space are outside of the country, but we’ve begun conversations with law enforcement officials to see if there are ways New York can up our game in terms of protecting against cyberthreats. 

One big priority that the state had, that the committee has been an advocate for and the executive branch has followed through quite nicely, is expansion of state resources to help other governmental entities protect themselves against cyberattacks. In August of 2023, the governor released a blueprint for cybersecurity protection for the state and that blueprint had a goal that our committee has supported, which is having the state provide more resources to more governments through their different agencies to counties and some major cities to upgrade their cybersecurity protection in that report. Since August of 2023, the state has expanded the outreach of cybersecurity guidance, response and training to local governments at a smaller level, school districts, not just counties, but other municipalities. That continues to be a work in progress where the state has made very positive gains already, and that is going to continue. In this year’s budget, the governor has proposed a requirement of reporting of cyberattacks by local governments to the state within a certain number of hours after the attack, just to upgrade the state’s ability to be part of the response.

The governor also proposed in her budget state training to local employees that work in technology to upgrade the protection through expanded training to all levels of government. That also is likely to be something that may be done as a separate bill, rather than in the budget, but continuing that outreach to more levels of local government and school districts, especially smaller ones that may be more vulnerable, is a priority for the governor and her team and a priority for our committee, as well.

What impact has the growth of the innovation economy been having on the state and what do you see as the future growth of the innovation economy?

One of the most exciting things that New York has seen is the expansion of microchip manufacturing. The Micron deal in the Syracuse area, but also in the Hudson Valley through IBM and other companies, continued expansion of jobs and activities related to artificial intelligence, data processing, manufacturing. New York has become one of the leaders around the country in attracting those kinds of businesses. It certainly is an area where it’s building on economic growth for the state.