This week, CompTIA’s California State Government Affairs held its monthly policy meeting in Sacramento to review current and pending legislation. Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) joined CompTIA on Wednesday, August 23rd as a guest speaker. As a freshman member of the California State Assembly, CompTIA members were interested in hearing from the Assemblyman on his first full year in office. Assemblyman Kalra represents the eastern portions of the City of San Jose—he serves as a member of the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, the Assembly Judiciary Committee and is a member of the "tech caucus." Assemblyman Kalra is no stranger to our policy issues and concerns. Discussions around affordable housing, public transit and privacy were the focus of the meeting.
Assemblyman Kalra considers CompTIA and our members a resource and looks forward to continued discussions as we move into 2018. With a personal interest and representing the home to many technology companies, the Assemblyman is committed to working together to maintain California and its businesses at the forefront of innovation and technology growth.
Later in the evening, CompTIA invited California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones to join for our August Decision Makers Dinner. Insurance Commissioner Jones has been a proponent of the tech economy, supporting products and services such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and autonomous vehicles. Recently, he approved the use of new app-based insurance products sold exclusively online, and updated the departments own internal systems to help licensed agents renew online, register for testing, and allow consumers to file a complaint.
Additionally, Commissioner Jones is running for California Attorney General in 2018. Members were interested in hearing from him and his stance on NIST standards as well as cyber security standards and consumer protections. CompTIA members also engaged with AG candidate Jones in a positive discussion surrounding the need for constitutional officers and state agency leaders to focus on customers by embracing innovation and combined measured level of risk where technology can provide better experiences for Californians and enable greater services to the State's population.
CompTIA members spent the evening discussing new and emerging technologies and the role the Insurance Commissioner plays in this process. All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity to discuss the tech industry perspective with the Commissioner and get to know him better in a more relaxed environment.
Kara Bush is the CompTIA Director of Government Affairs Western Region
