ADVERTISEMENT The State and Local Cybersecurity Act, a major bipartisan effort to help defend against cyber attacks sponsored primarily by Rep. Yvette Clarke Finally, the committee also approved legislation sponsored primarily by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Jackson Lee testified Tuesday of the need for the legislation following reports that Colonial Pipeline paid the cyber criminals behind the ransomware attack around $5 million to regain access to its networks and begin operations after temporarily shutting down. The company has not publicly confirmed that it paid the ransom, but it has not denied reports. “When Colonial Pipeline was asked by the White House to respond about whether they paid ransom, it was a slow, slow response, almost attempting to hide from the government what they had done,” Jackson Lee noted.