Support Continuing Appropriations for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program

Action Needed

Urge your Members of Congress to support additional appropriations as authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP), which is $100 million for Fiscal Year 2025. The SLCGP has demonstrated success in allowing counties to assess where their networks and services are most vulnerable, begin to implement basic cybersecurity protocols and utilize many of the offerings from their state governments to improve security. There is more funding that is needed for local cybersecurity demands that exceed the parameters of the SLCGP, but the SLCGP should remain funded for the final year of its operation to continue supporting these efforts in the interim.

Background

The State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP), passed as a part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, is providing a total of $1 billion across four years to support state and local cybersecurity planning and implementation efforts. The SLCGP requires state recipients of funds to provide pass-through funding of 80% to local governments, in the form of direct funding or in-kind services. Local governments have received benefits that increased minimum benchmarks for local government cybersecurity readiness, while contributing to state efforts to enhance existing cybersecurity plans or create new plans that address the evolving cybersecurity landscape. 

As the SLCGP enters its final Fiscal Year of operation, it is imperative that Congress seeks to provide full funding in their upcoming Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations negotiations to ensure that this program continues to support counties in bolstering their cybersecurity infrastructure and continuing to raise the minimum benchmark of cybersecurity readiness for counties. 

As Congress deliberates future iterations of cybersecurity funding sources for state and local governments, they should provide flexibility in the use of funds across different levels of local government to ensure that funding is addressing areas of respective need. This can include permitting counties at a high cybersecurity readiness posture to utilize funding for advanced cybersecurity infrastructure needs while allowing counties with lower cybersecurity readiness postures to implement basic infrastructure needs such as multi-factor authentication and conversion to the Dot Gov domain.

Key Talking Points

• The SLCGP has provided a funding source dedicated to state and local government to improve our cybersecurity readiness posture, and the SLCGP should receive its full funding allocation for Fiscal Year 2025. 
• Rising cybersecurity demands on local government necessitate a federal funding source that is reliable and flexible for the varied needs of state and local governments.