A coalition of organizations focused on broadband policy, housing, and addressing challenges facing under-resourced communities in our nation’s cities and throughout the country (including the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society) called for urgent action to ensure unserved households in multifamily residential housing (MDUs) are correctly identified when broadband funding is allocated. In a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, the group, led by the national non-profit EducationSuperHighway, urged the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to use its authority to encourage states to supplement new Federal Communications Commission maps with data that identifies specific apartment units that lack access to reliable broadband service. The coalition highlights the need to accurately count unconnected units within each building to deliver on the shared goal of closing America’s digital divide. The letter highlights improvements in Wi-Fi technology have made it possible to connect households living in MDUs to reliable broadband service simply by deploying Wi-FI access points in the hallways and then connecting the Wi-Fi network to a high-speed broadband connection to the building. These reliable, high-speed networks can be deployed in months, not years, and have the potential to quickly and cost-effectively connect millions of unserved and unconnected households living in low-income apartments, rentals, housing cooperatives, and public housing. These are the very same households who represent a large percentage of the most unconnected households in America: very low-income renters and communities of color.

Broadband grants awarded under programs established by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) could be subject to federal corporate income tax, effectively requiring corporate recipients of grant funds to return 21 percent of it to the federal government. While the IRS has in the past declared a “safe harbor” from taxation for certain broadband grants (specifically, BTOP and BIP grants, in 2010), doing so now could be more challenging due to statutory changes adopted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If not conclusively addressed, the taxation issue could significantly blunt the positive impact of broadband grants made under ARPA and the IIJA, including the massive $42 billion infusion forthcoming under the BEAD program. Entities expecting to receive grant funds would need to budget for the tax bill, potentially requiring a reduction in the scope of their project. Entities might also consider structuring a project so that grant funds are received by tax-exempt entities. here's a high-level overview of these issues.

A coalition of 55 consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to House Judiciary Leadership on March 16 urging the lawmakers to hold a legislative hearing on the Freedom to Repair Act (H.R. 6566), a bipartisan bill that would reform copyright law to allow people to repair all manner of devices themselves without infringing on a protected copyright. “Companies that make products from tablets to tractors are using an oversight in copyright law to deny us the right to repair our own devices or take them to local small businesses,” the groups wrote in the letter. Bipartisan companion legislation to the House’s “right to repair” bill was also introduced March 16 by Sens Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). And the issue has become an increasingly popular grassroots movement, as consumers and businesses push for the ability to fix everything from phones to farm equipment to McFlurry machines without going through the original manufacturer. President Joe Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission to establish right to repair rules in his executive order on competition in 2021, and the agency in July said it will challenge overly restrictive repair policies imposed by companies. Businesses like Apple and John Deere, however, have sought to limit who can tinker with their devices, citing a need to protect proprietary information or prevent unauthorized changes that could undermine safety and performance standards.