Legislation
Minnesotans Urged to Play Role in Digital Equity Plan
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's Office of Broadband Development (OBD) is developing a digital equity plan to create improvements in internet affordability, access to internet-enabled devices, and ways to provide digital skills training. We want to hear from Minnesotans most impacted by the digital access and skills gap to ensure our digital equity plan reflects the goals and needs of all Minnesotans. This plan will help us determine how to spend federal funding coming in 2024 aimed at increasing digital access and skills.
House Republicans Vote to Turn Back Time on Telework Policies
The House voted 221-206, mostly along party lines, to pass legislation requiring federal agencies to revert to their pre-pandemic telework policies, although the measure is likely to meet stiff resistance in the Democratically controlled Senate. The Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act (H.R. 139), introduced by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), would require agencies to “reinstate and apply the telework policies, practices and levels . . . in effect on December 31, 2019” within 30 days of the bill’s enactment.
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FCC Announces Over $30 Million in Emergency Connectivity Funding
The Federal Communications Commission committed over $30 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country. These funding commitments support applications from all three application windows, benefiting approximately 75,000 students across the country, including students in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Nevada—and will fund applications from all three application windows that will support over 200 schools, 15 libraries, and 1 consortium.
GAO Highlights $14 Billion Broadband Subsidy Program’s Success And How To Improve
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an essential report AFFORDABLE BROADBAND: FCC Could Improve Performance Goals and Measures, Consumer Outreach, and Fraud Risk Management, written by GAO Director of Infrastructure Andr
It’s ‘Telehealth vs. No Care’: Doctors Say Congress Risks Leaving Patients Vulnerable
When the covid-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Corey Siegel was more prepared than most of his peers.
Panel Suggest Need for Tracking Mechanism for Broadband Infrastructure Funding
There needs to be a way to consistently track the billions in broadband infrastructure money coming from the federal government, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panelists. With $42.5 billion coming to the states from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, experts floated the idea of having mandated ongoing reporting requirements on what that money is doing. Brookings Institution senior fellow Nicol Turner-Lee said her research group is discussing their own version of a tracking me
How far might the broadband funding go? An update with data from the new maps
An earlier model estimated how far the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding might go, using estimates of the unserved and underserved from the old Form 477 data. The prediction was that with an optimal allocation between states, there would be almost enough money to reach all the unserved and underserved. Well, we’re getting closer to real and final data, and an update is in: $41.4 billion at an average national cost of $6,214 per location should reach 6.7 million locations.
An American Industrial Strategy for US Tech Leadership: Investing in Competitiveness, Innovation, and Equity
The United States and our allies are in a high-stakes technology competition with authoritarian adversaries. How this competition plays out will profoundly shape our economic security – our ability to innovate, grow exports, create jobs of the future, and provide opportunities to all our people. It will also shape our national security – our ability to protect our advantages while preserving our freedoms and democratic values at home and abroad.
Steve Forbes: Giving lower-income families a hand up will help America compete
People in need don’t want a handout; they want a hand-up that will enable them to improve their circumstances and lead more productive, successful lives. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is giving workers, students, and families the hand-up they need to compete in the connected 21st-century digital economy.
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PSC Now Accepting Applications for ‘Internet for All’ Planning Grants
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is now accepting applications for multiple federally funded grant programs to assist in the state’s broadband and digital equity planning efforts. In December 2022, Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) and the PSC announced the state will receive nearly $6 million to plan for the deployment and adoption of affordable, equitable, and reliable high-speed Internet throughout the state.