S 4453
LINK Act
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- Passed Senate
- Passed House
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- Became Law
Bill overview
This bill, the USDA–DOI Linking Information Networks for Knowledge-sharing Act (LINK Act), requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to work together to make the technology systems used by their departments compatible. This will allow them to share information more effectively on activities like wildfire management, disaster response, and procurement. The bill also directs the agencies to develop a plan for phasing out outdated systems and to consult with Tribal governments regarding data sovereignty.
Key provisions
- Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to coordinate information technology and cybersecurity systems.
- Focuses on sharing information related to federal land management, disaster response, and procurement.
- Mandates the development of a joint interoperability implementation plan.
- Directs agencies to retire siloed legacy systems.
- Requires consultation with applicable Indian Tribes.
- Emphasizes protections for Tribal data sovereignty.
- Calls for updates to the Department of Agriculture’s IT systems to support interoperability.
Who is affected
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of the Interior
- Federal firefighters
- Indian Tribes
Notable changes
- Establishes a framework for interoperability between two large federal departments.
- Includes specific areas of information sharing (wildfire operations, disaster response, etc.)
Sponsors
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Primary sponsor
Cosponsor
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119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
S. 4453
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to ensure that the information technology and cybersecurity and information security systems of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior are interoperable, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the USDA–DOI Linking Information Networks for Knowledge-sharing Act LINK Act
or the
.
In this section, the term Secretary
means the Secretary of Agriculture.
The covered activities referred to in paragraph (1) are—
Federal land management activities, with an emphasis on activities that would leverage existing integration efforts and capabilities, such as wildfire operations;
disaster and emergency preparedness and response activities; and
procurement, aviation management, personnel and workforce management, and other business system activities relating to the conduct of the activities described in subparagraphs (A) and (B).
In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior shall comply with applicable Federal information technology system laws, including subtitle III of title 40 and chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code.
In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior shall—
provide appropriate protections for Tribal data sovereignty.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior shall implement the interoperability implementation plan developed under paragraph (1).