House votes to reup cyber grant program

The House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation to reauthorize a federal grant program to strengthen state and local governments’ cybersecurity.

Lawmakers agreed by voice vote to reauthorize the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program for 10 years under the Protecting Information by Local Leaders for Agency Resilience Act, known as the PILLAR Act. The program, which expired at the end of September, had already received a temporary reauthorization as part of the deal to reopen the federal government.

The bipartisan legislation, which was introduced this summer, would also stabilize cost-sharing agreements for the grants so that the federal government would provide 60% of a grant to a single entity that applies and 70% for a multi-entity group, with states providing the rest. It advanced by a vote of 21-1 through a September markup in the House Homeland Security Committee.

“This is about strengthening the first line of defense in ...