(AUSTIN) — In the latest issue of Fiscal Notes, released today, the Texas Comptroller’s office examines Texas state government’s aging information technology (IT) infrastructure, and the challenges it faces in serving a population growing by nearly half a million residents a year.

The state spends more than $300 million annually on maintaining legacy systems — hardware and software so old they are no longer supported by their makers — according to a Texas Department of Information Resources estimate.

“Texas agencies have a lot of IT assets that are aging, some of them running on archaic programming language dating back to the 1950s,” Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said. “Each year, the state spends hundreds of millions of dollars on maintaining these outdated systems, and updating or replacing them would cost even more.”

The December-January issue of Fiscal Notes also examines a major new IT-related project spearheaded by the Comptroller’s office — the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System, or CAPPS. This project will replace the state’s main automated business applications for financial reporting and human resources.

Fiscal Notes is available online and also can be received by subscribing via the Comptroller’s website.

Fiscal Notes helps promote and further explain the Comptroller’s constitutional responsibility to monitor the state’s economy and estimate state government revenues. It has been published since 1975, featuring in-depth