Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY) introduced the Consumer Online Payment Transparency and Integrity Act (S.3298), or Consumer OPT-IN Act, to protect consumers from online free trial scams and deceptive marketing tactics. To do this, the Consumer OPT-In Act will:

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the Department of the Treasury to provide crucial flexibility to state and local governments in the use of American Rescue Plan funds in order to help close the digital divide and ensure families can afford broadband. Under the American Rescue Plan, state and local governments are able to use funding from the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund and the $10 billion Capital Projects Fund to expand broadband infrastructure.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a group of senators urged the FCC to ensure that state, local, and tribal governments are included in efforts to update nationwide broadband maps. Following decades-long use of inaccurate data maps that denied broadband funding to eligible communities, the FCC was charged by Congress with creating new maps in 2020 to accurately depict the current state of broadband access in our nation.

Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Edward Markey (D-MA) led a letter with 10 of their colleagues in urging leadership to address the digital divide and the homework gap within the phase three coronavirus funding package. As more and more schools transition to online learning due to the impact of the coronavirus, students without access to internet risk falling significantly behind their classmates.

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the introduction of the Homework Gap Trust Fund Act, legislation to eliminate the homework gap and ensure children have access to the internet at home. According to the Senate Joint Economic Committee, as many as 12 million students do not have access to the internet at home. Data also suggests that while 70 percent of teachers assign homework that requires internet access, almost 20 percent of students don’t have home internet access to complete it.