                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CHIEF DATA OFFICER; CREATED; REPORT (§ 2.2-203.2:4)

A. As used in this section, unless the context requires a different meaning:
			&#8220;Board&#8221; means the Executive Data Board.
			&#8220;CDO&#8221; means the Chief Data Officer of the Commonwealth.
			&#8220;Commonwealth Data Trust&#8221; means a secure, multi-stakeholder data
exchange and analytics platform with common rules for data security, privacy,
and confidentiality. The Commonwealth Data Trust includes data from state,
regional, and local governments, from public institutions of higher education,
and from any other sources deemed necessary and appropriate.
			&#8220;Council&#8221; means the Data Governance Council.
			&#8220;Group&#8221; means the Data Stewards Group.
			&#8220;Office&#8221; means the Office of Data Governance and Analytics as
created pursuant to &#xA7; 2.2-2034.1.
			&#8220;Open data&#8221; means data that is collected by an agency that is not
prohibited from being made available to the public by applicable laws or
regulations or other restrictions, requirements, or rights associated with such
data.

B. There is created in the Office of the Secretary of Administration the
position of Chief Data Officer of the Commonwealth to lead the Office of Data
Governance and Analytics. The CDO shall exercise and perform the duties
conferred or imposed upon him by law and perform such other duties as may be
required by the Governor and the Secretary of Administration. The CDO shall not
be considered the custodian of any public records in or derived from the
Commonwealth Data Trust. The CDO shall:

   1. Establish business rules, guidelines, and best practices for the use of
   data, including open data, in the Commonwealth. Such rules, guidelines, and
   best practices shall address, at a minimum, (i) the sharing of data between
   state, regional, and local public entities and public institutions of higher
   education, and, when appropriate, private entities; (ii) data storage; (iii)
   data security; (iv) privacy; (v) compliance with federal law; (vi) the
   de-identification of data for research purposes; and (vii) the appropriate
   access to and presentation of open data and datasets to the public;

   2. Assist state, regional, and local public entities, public institutions of
   higher education, and employees thereof, with the application of the
   Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act (&#xA7; 2.2-3800
   et. seq.) and understanding the applicability of federal laws governing
   privacy and access to data to the data sharing practices of the Commonwealth;

   3. Assist the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth with matters
   related to the creation, storage, and dissemination of data upon request;

   4. Encourage and coordinate efforts of state, regional, and local public
   entities and public institutions of higher education to access and share data,
   including open data, across all levels of government in an effort to improve
   the efficiency and efficacy of services, improve outcomes, and promote
   data-driven policy making, decision making, research, and analysis;

   5. Oversee the implementation of a website dedicated to (i) hosting open data
   from state, regional, and local public entities and public institutions of
   higher education and (ii) providing links to any other additional open data
   websites in the Commonwealth;

   6. Enter into contracts for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this
   section;

   7. Obtain from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency office space and
   human resources, procurement, fiscal, and other administrative support and
   resources necessary to support the operations of the Office and to carry out
   the provisions of this section; and

   8. Report on the activities of the Office and the Commonwealth Data Trust
   annually by December 1 to the Governor and the General Assembly.

C. The Commonwealth Data Trust shall be governed by a multi-level governance
structure as follows:

   1. The Executive Data Board shall consist of the directors or chief
   executives, or their designees, of executive branch agencies engaged in data
   sharing and analytics projects with the Commonwealth Data Trust. The CDO shall
   chair the Board. Members of the Board shall (i) translate the
   Commonwealth&#8217;s data-driven policy goals and objectives into performance
   targets at their respective agencies; (ii) allocate appropriate resources at
   their respective agencies to support data governance, sharing, and analytics
   initiatives; and (iii) provide any reports to the Office regarding their
   respective agencies&#8217; data analytics work and implementation of
   recommendations.

   2. The Data Governance Council shall consist of employees of the agencies
   represented on the Board, selected by the Board members from their respective
   agencies. The CDO, or his designee, shall chair the Council. The Council shall
   (i) liaise between state agency operations and the CDO; (ii) advise the CDO on
   data technology, policy, and governance structure; (iii) administer data
   governance policies, standards, and best practices, as set by the Board; (iv)
   oversee data sharing and analytics projects; (v) review open data assets prior
   to publication; (vi) provide to the Board any reports on the Council&#8217;s
   recommendations and work as required by the Board; (vii) develop necessary
   privacy and ethical standards and policies for Commonwealth Data Trust
   resources; (viii) monitor the sharing of Commonwealth Data Trust
   member-contributed data resources; (ix) review and approve new Commonwealth
   Data Trust-managed data resources; and (x) conduct any other business the CDO
   deems necessary for Commonwealth Data Trust governance.

   3. The Data Stewards Group shall consist of employees from executive branch
   agencies with technical experience in data management or data analytics.
   Executive branch agencies shall be encouraged to designate at least one agency
   data steward to serve on the Group and may designate multiple data stewards as
   appropriate based upon organizational or data system responsibilities. The
   Group shall (i) provide the Board and Council with technical subject matter
   expertise in support of data policies, standards, and best practices; (ii)
   implement data sharing and analytics projects promoting data accessibility,
   sharing, and reuse, thereby reducing redundancy across the Commonwealth; (iii)
   coordinate and resolve technical stewardship issues for standardized data;
   (iv) ensure data quality processes and standards are implemented consistently
   by agencies in the Commonwealth; (v) provide communication and education to
   data users on the appropriate use, sharing, and protection of the
   Commonwealth&#8217;s data assets; (vi) promote the collection and sharing of
   metadata by registering data assets in the Virginia Data Catalog; (vii) liaise
   with agency project managers and information technology investment staff to
   ensure adherence to Commonwealth data standards and data sharing requirements;
   and (viii) support informed, data-driven decision making through compliance
   with Commonwealth data policies, standards, and best practices.

D. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Office shall coordinate
and collaborate with, to the fullest extent authorized by federal law and
notwithstanding any state law to the contrary, all agencies set forth in
subsection A of &#xA7; 2.2-212 and subsection A of &#xA7; 2.2-221; any other
state, regional, and local public bodies, including community services boards;
local law-enforcement agencies; any health and human services-related entity of
a political subdivision that receives state funds; public institutions of higher
education; and, when appropriate, private entities.

E. The Office shall be considered an agent of any state agency in the executive
branch of government that shares information or data with the Office, and shall
be an authorized recipient of information under any statutory or administrative
law governing the information or data. Interagency data shared pursuant to this
section shall not constitute a disclosure or release of information or data
under any statutory or administrative law governing the information or data.

F. The Office shall be responsible for overseeing and supporting any workforce
development data systems authorized under the Secretary of Labor to ensure the
interoperability of the systems, to facilitate data sharing, to identify
innovative technology solutions, and to support processes that create
data-informed decisions.

HISTORY: 2018, c. 679; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 314; 2023, cc. 46, 47; 2024, c.
292; 2025, cc. 7, 23.