State Rep. Jamie Thompson has proposed legislation within a series of new plans that help safeguard Michigan’s residents, security and economy from threats posed by foreign entities of concern.

Thompson’s House Bill 4242 requires health care providers in Michigan to utilize only electronic health record technology that is physically maintained in the United States or Canada in storing patient medical information.

“Protecting our constituents’ health records, data and other sensitive information from bad actors and our country’s adversaries is extremely important,” said Thompson, of Brownstown. “It’s urgent that we act now to update our laws as cyber-attacks and wide-scale breaches become more prevalent. Just in the last few years, we have seen breaches in Michigan that expose the data and medical information of tens of thousands of patients.”

Unsecured breaches of protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals are required to be reported by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and there are currently 840 breaches under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights.

“If these attacks come from one of our foreign adversaries and this data ended up in their hands, the results could be tragic,” Thompson said. “Ensuring our health care record technology is physically maintained in the US or Canada, as my bill does, is a needed step Michigan should take to protect the personal and private health information of people we all represent.”

Other bills in the package would:

• Prevent foreign entities of concern from collecting sensitive information by blocking prohibited apps on government devices.

• Prohibit public bodies from entering into constraining agreements with foreign countries of concern.

• Ensure public economic incentives are not awarded to foreign entities of concern.

• Protect the safety of Michiganders by preventing entities of concern from purchasing land and surveilling military bases and other critical infrastructure.

The bills in the package apply to all of the dangerous entities included on the federal watch list: The People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, and the Syrian Arab Republic.

House Bills 4233-42 have been referred to the House Government Operations Committee for consideration.