Cloud computing season continues on the Hill. Last week’s hearing on cloud computing in the House Science Sbcmte. on Technology and Innovation didn’t generate any major headlines, which is largely a good thing. Next week the House Homeland Security Sbcmte. on Cybersecurity is planning to hold an informational hearing on cloud computing security. Most importantly, but least officially, rumor has it that Sen. Klobuchar is still seeking to introduce her draft cloud computing legislation.
In other cloud news, NIST has officially scheduled their fourth Cloud Computing Roundtable and Workshop for Nov. 2-4, at which time they plan to unveil their Cloud Computing Roadmap guidance document for federal agencies.
Also of note last week, the Sen. Judiciary Cmte. approved — along party lines — three bills seeking to establish uniform rules for data security and breach notification. As we reported last week, these were held over from the previous week due to a lack of Republican members for a quorum. While attendance was sufficient this time around, Sen. Grassley again voiced serious reservation with all of the bills, stating that they would create an unnecessary burden on businesses of all sizes. And while Sen. Commerce Cmte., Chair Rockefeller still has not provided word on when the Cmte. will proceed with the pending markup of his bill, the House E&C Cmte. staff has indicated that it’s likely to revisit the issue this fall.
Finally, President Obama last Friday announced a sweeping set of federal NCLB education waivers states and school districts can apply for in the areas of testing/accountability, school improvement, use of funds and teacher quality/effectiveness. Most significantly, the waivers will provide some flexibility in how student, teacher and school performance is measured, as well as to the nature of school improvement remedies (e.g., Title I Supplemental Educational Services tutoring will likely see a large reduction) and the targeting of limited improvement resources. SIIA will provide members with further information and analysis on this in the near future, particularly considering how this is likely to affect education technology.