Nguyen’s bill died in committee last February because of the estimated $30 million expense of setting up the cybersecurity that would be required to collect data. Monitoring oil industry finances includes collecting and analyzing a massive amount of confidential proprietary information, and in a non-budget session like 2024, the $30 million was not available. Nguyen also wanted to refine the legislation some more, intending to revive it this year.
Last month, newly elected Gov. Bob Ferguson selected Nguyen as his new commerce department director. That means a yet-to-be-determined legislator will have to spearhead this bill.
Meanwhile, prior to joining the new Ferguson administration, Nguyen had already decided to postpone reviving
→ Continue reading at Crosscut
