Upcoming policy issue
Some hiccups emerge with school cell phone bans
It’s been a heated summer for school cell phone bans. Worried politicians and school districts in several states have been swarming to limit cell phone use during class time. In all, seven states have banned or restricted cellphone use in schools, and fourteen have introduced bills doing the same. Among the bills underway is California’s Phone-Free Schools Act, which cleared the state legislature in August and is expecting the governor’s signature.
BEAD Under Pressure
The three-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is fast approaching. Zero households have been connected through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, IIJA’s signature $42.5B broadband program that aims to bring universal internet service to all Americans. While all infrastructure programs take years to implement, BEAD’s pace has led to increased congressional scrutiny of the program. Whether or not the BEAD program is off track is a point of contention amongst stakeholders.
Blair Levin: Spectrum Reallocation is Main Issue Impacting Carriers Post Election
How will the elections determine how the stock markets react? Traditional wisdom says internet service providers (ISPs) will do better in policy terms under Republicans than under Democrats as Democrats are more likely to take regulatory action that hurts ISPs. This may have been true in the past, but it’s now wrong, according to NewStreet Research Policy Advisor Blair Levin. “There are discrete issues on which ISPs favor the Republican approach.
Local Estimates of Internet Adoption
In 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Census Bureau began an experimental project to study the feasibility of—and ultimately to produce—estimates of Internet adoption for small, sub-state areas during a single year to address this knowledge gap and better serve the policymaking process. Using techniques that have been successfully employed in other data products, Census Bureau experts are combining existing data from key household surveys with auxiliary data that are known to correlate with Internet adoption rates.
What happens when you lock 30 experts in a room until they agree on broadband permitting?
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is making billions of dollars available to expand broadband networks throughout rural America—and with these networks, access to all the opportunities and advantages internet service allows. Billions of dollars for broadband construction also means billions of dollars in construction projects seeking approval from local permitting offices. Reviewing these projects will be no small task, especially in rural areas where local governments have limited resources.
California tackles digital superintelligence—maybe
California recently lawmakers sent a nationally consequential artificial intelligence bill to Gov.
A Sustainable Path Toward Digital Equity Must Prioritize Broadband Affordability Assistance
The process of creating effective, pro-consumer policies is often filled with opportunities, challenges, and ambiguity. The process has been no different for the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which allowed 23 million low-income households an opportunity to reliably connect to affordable high-speed internet.
Overhauling the Universal Service Fund: Aligning Policy with Economic Reality
Two very real Universal Service Fund (USF) problems need to be addressed: funding and spending. The way the program is funded is inefficient, unsustainable, and regressive. Regardless of the judicial outcome, the tax that the court declared unconstitutional is both inefficient, by taxing a small, price-sensitive, declining base, and regressive, with a higher proportional burden falling on those least able to afford it. The program spends too much money on the wrong things. The High Cost Fund in particular, which accounts for about half of total spending, is outdated and wasteful.
California AI bill passes State Assembly, pushing AI fight to Newsom
The California State Assembly passed a bill on August 28 that would enact the nation’s strictest regulations on artificial intelligence companies, pushing the fierce fight over how to regulate AI toward Gov.
The controversial California AI bill that has divided the tech world
A California effort to regulate artificial intelligence has divided the tech world, with some trying