5. Data Leadership & Governance

In 2020, Arkansas named the state’s new Chief Data Officer (CDO). The Chief Data Officer position, created by a 2017 law, leads the state’s efforts to improve data use, infrastructure, and security. A 2019 Arkansas law created the Data-Sharing and Data-Driven Decision-Making Task Force “to implement a shared services model for statewide data sharing in order to drive innovation and facilitate efficiency across state agencies, improve the delivery of services, and to better serve the citizens of this state.” The CDO has led the development of the Arkansas data asset inventory system, Data and Transparency Panel, and cultivated statewide data culture and data literacy.

Arizona’s Department of Administration has a State Data Management Architect who serves as the statewide Chief Data Officer and has led the Statewide Data Management Program (SDMP) since 2016. The Chief Data Officer leads data management at the Department of Administration, as well as the State Data Interoperability Council, which oversees data sharing between state agencies. As part of the Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology Office, the State Data Management Architect promulgates data governance policies that address technology; security; privacy; and communication strategies, policies, and procedures.

In 2020, California appointed a new Chief Data Officer. This position is responsible for creating data strategies that improve programs statewide and lead to better outcomes, with a particular focus on connecting traditionally siloed data. Since 2020, the Chief Data Officer, a position in the California Government Operations Agency, created the CalData: California’s Data Strategy 2020, the California Open Data Policy, and the California Open Data Portal.

The State of Colorado’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) includes a Chief Data Officer. The Chief Data Officer is responsible for developing and directing the state’s data strategy, data governance, and data management. The position establishes enterprise data policies, standards, and procedures to maximize the state’s investment in data management systems. The OIT’s statewide data management program leverages data and information as enterprise assets and establishes standards and processes to enable more agile solutions and government services. Additionally, OIT’s Government Data Advisory Board (GDAB), created by a 2009 law, advises the Chief Data Officer on activities and policies necessary to develop the interdepartmental data protocol, made up of members from state and local government, as well as private industry partners. GDAB’s mission is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state government, citizen service delivery, and policymaking by providing guidance and recommendations on how the state should govern and manage data and data management systems. For example, in 2021, GDAB was tasked with creating standard templates for interagency data-sharing and data-access agreements through HB 21-12.

A 2017 Indiana law (p. 8) established the position of Chief Data Officer with the budget, staff, and authority to: (1) coordinate data analytics and data transparency for state agencies; (2) advise state agencies regarding best practices for data maintenance, security, and privacy; and (3) oversee the Indiana Management Performance Hub (MPH). MPH uses state data, such as the Education and Workforce Development database, to provide “analytics solutions tailored to address complex management and policy questions enabling improved outcomes.”

Issue Areas: COVID-19, Education, Health, Workforce

In 2018, Kentucky established a Chief Data Officer position to “coordinate and oversee the sharing of data” and “implement effective data governance strategies designed to maintain data integrity, confidentiality, availability, security, and to promote access to data.” Kentucky’s Chief Data Officer is the senior executive responsible for leading data management with the support of Agency Data Officers, who coordinate data management practices within their respective agencies. Agency Data Officers meet monthly to share best practices and support the state’s data initiatives.

Minnesota has a Chief Data and Evaluation Officer with the authority, staff, and budget to collect, analyze, share, and use data to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of public programs and inform policy decisions affecting them. The Minnesota Chief Data and Evaluation Officer leads a team of analysts and research scientists who partner with state agencies to integrate useful information into strategic planning, budget formulation, and ongoing management.

Issue Areas: Child Welfare, COVID-19, Criminal Justice, Economic Mobility, Education, Health, Workforce

The state’s interim Chief Data Officer also serves as the Deputy State Chief Information Officer and oversees the North Carolina Government Data Analytics Center, which serves as the centralized data office for the state. In this role, the Chief Data Officer leads efforts to support data sharing between state agencies, develop enterprise solutions, identify cost savings through fraud and compliance initiatives, and leverage the state’s data assets to provide information for state leaders to make evidence-based decisions. For example, the Government Data Analytics Center is assisting with the development of North Carolina’s Longitudinal Data System, which will link data from across agencies – including early childhood, K-12, postsecondary education, and workforce – to help inform decision-making. Additionally, some North Carolina departments and agencies have their own chief data officers, as well.

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Education, Workforce

New Jersey’s Chief Data Officer leads statewide data transparency initiatives and open data projects, such as the Open Data Center, Governor’s Transparency, Superstorm Sandy Transparency, and CARES Act Transparency website. The CDO serves as the coordinator, architect, and content manager for New Jersey’s Open Data Portal. This role also establishes best practices, administrative rules, policies, standards, procedures, and bulletins as they relate to open data, enterprise information, and data management.

Issue Areas: Child Welfare, COVID-19, Criminal Justice, Economic Mobility, Education, Health, Workforce

In 2019, the Ohio Governor’s Office established the Chief Data Advocate role as a senior staff member with the authority to collect, analyze, share, and use data to improve state government programs. The Chief Data Advocate works under InnovateOhio, which was created in 2019 and is led by the Lieutenant Governor. The executive order that created InnovateOhio states a presumption of data sharing between state agencies, except where a specific legal prohibition is identified in writing.

Issue Areas: Child Welfare, COVID-19, Criminal Justice, Economic Mobility, Education, Health, Workforce

A 2017 Oregon law instituted a Chief Data Officer responsible for the state’s centralized data strategy, including an enterprise open data platform. The Chief Data Officer is charged with creating open data standards, providing privacy guidance for state agencies, identifying opportunities for data sharing, and designing stakeholder engagement strategies, including an advisory committee. In 2021, the office was funded to grow from six to 12 staff members and procured a geospatial data-sharing and management platform. The Chief Data Officer also released Oregon’s first data strategy in 2020 and data strategy website in February 2021. The state continues working toward the actions identified in the data strategy’s biennial action plan.

A 2017 executive order enhanced Pennsylvania’s enterprise approach to using data as a strategic asset by creating an open data program, establishing a statewide Chief Data Officer and data advisory committee that includes data stewards, and encouraging the sharing and use of data. The CDO reports to the Deputy Secretary for Information Technology and State Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Governor’s Office of Administration, and is charged with overseeing the use, management, and governance of data statewide. In 2021, the Chief Information Officer described the governance structures (Appendix E) related to shared services, including data management in a 2021 testimony to the State’s Senate and Communications committee on state information technology legislation.

Additionally, in July 2021, the Commonwealth hired a Deputy General Counsel for Privacy, a chief privacy officer, within the Office of General Counsel to review relevant legislation and inform decisions regarding improving data laws, policies, and regulations.

The South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office (RFA) is empowered by recurring budget provision (102.3) and various statutes (§44-6-170 and §59-18-1950) to collect and integrate data at the state level. The budget provision gives RFA the authority to maintain MOUs with the majority of state agencies and the authority to execute additional ones. Since 1975, the office has helped improve government efficiency, enhance outcomes for residents, and reduce disparities through the integration of data across policy domains and data sources, as well as agencies and departments. The agency has a staff of approximately 75, composed of analysts, statisticians, epidemiologists, database administrators, web developers, GIS analysts, economists, surveyors, and project and program managers.

Issue Areas: Health

In June 2020, Tennessee hired a Chief Data Officer (CDO) within the Office of Strategic Technology Solutions (STS) as part of Finance and Administration. The CDO has developed a data management and open data strategy and a statewide framework for data governance. The CDO has developed a future state architecture for the data platform to modernize the way data is shared and accessed internally across agencies and externally.

Additionally, the state has a Data Governance Committee to improve data quality, promote data sharing, and support deploying a statewide data governance framework. The Data Governance Committee is responsible for contributing to the statewide and agency data policies, practices, and implementation, from the regular review and analysis of practices that support and improve data quality to recommending training and workforce development programs as they relate to data and more. 

The Utah State Data Coordinator is the architect and content manager for the state’s open data portal and Spending.Utah.gov. During 2020, the State’s Chief Data Officer in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget launched the Blueprint Solution, an interoperability initiative that exchanges service-level data between case managers who have clients in common, which serves nearly 500 clients shared across five state social services programs, including correctional, child and family services, and employment-seeking clients.

Additionally, a 2021 Utah law created the Government Operations Privacy Officer, the State Privacy Officer, and the Personal Privacy Oversight Commission to oversee and govern state data sharing, privacy, security, and technology across the state.

Issue Areas: Criminal Justice, Economic Mobility

A 2018 Virginia law established a Chief Data Officer role to coordinate data sharing among state, regional, and local entities. The Chief Data Officer coordinates the state’s Data Sharing and Analytics Advisory Committee and is responsible for data governance, including policies related to open data, data sharing, and data privacy.

Issue Areas: Child Welfare, COVID-19, Criminal Justice, Economic Mobility, Education, Health, Workforce

In 2020, the Washington State Legislature established the Washington State Office of Equity, which is housed within the Governor’s Office. The office will provide a unified vision around equity for all state agencies with the goal of reframing state government to work in a way that bridges opportunity gaps and reduces disparities to improve equitable and just outcomes for state residents. The Office of Equity Director will establish standards for the collection, analysis, and reporting of disaggregated data pertaining to tracking population-level outcomes of communities, create outcome measures to determine the effectiveness of agency programs and services on reducing disparities, and identify additional subcategories in workforce data for disaggregation to track disparities in public employment.

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Equity