Policy Positions
NDIA Comments on Consumer Broadband Labels
On March 9, NDIA submitted comments to the FCC regarding the implementation of Section 60504 of the Infrastructure Act, which requires internet service providers to display consumer broadband labels for their internet service plans. Section 60504 of the...
Nine Digital Inclusion Orgs Launch Airwaves for Equity Coalition
New coalition asks Congress to dedicate revenue from future spectrum auctions to support digital literacy and adoption efforts Today, nine of the nation’s leading digital equity organizations announced the launch of Airwaves for Equity, a coalition focused on...
NDIA Recommends NTIA Prioritize Equity through All IIJA Programs
If 2021 was about writing, passing, and signing into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), 2022 will be about figuring out how best to spend the $1.2 trillion it allocates. While Congress outlined some guidelines in the legislation around how the $65...
Digital Inclusion Funding in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as recently passed by Congress, appropriates over $65 billion to states, local governments, community organizations, and other entities for a range of digital inclusion activities. To help you better understand and navigate...
NDIA Releases Our First-Ever Policy Priorities
It’s been 19 months since the world turned upside down with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital divide was shoved into the spotlight. Today we’re at a crossroads -- either we double down and holistically and sustainably invest in policies,...
U.S. House votes “Yes” on home broadband benefit and digital equity funding for states and communities
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the "Moving Forward Act" (HR 2), a $1.5 trillion infrastructure funding bill that includes $8.8 billion for a new “broadband benefit” program to help low-income households and recently laid-off consumers pay for internet...
Wyden bill provides emergency internet assistance for laid-off workers, low income households, Pell students
United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon yesterday introduced the "Emergency Broadband Connections Act", which would create a new Emergency Benefit for Broadband Service to provide free or low-cost broadband service for low-income families as well as workers recently...
New U.S. House broadband bill includes low-income payment help and digital inclusion funding
A bill introduced today by Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives proposes more than a billion dollars in funding for state and community digital inclusion initiatives, as well as a new federal broadband benefit that would contribute $50 a month to...
NDIA says “rural only” broadband investment is structurally racist
NDIA has released a new white paper arguing that current federal policies which limit broadband expenditures to rural infrastructure deployment, while offering no help to millions of unconnected urban residents, are "structurally racist, discriminating against...
Federal regulators allow CRA credit for bank investments in digital access during COVID-19 emergency
The three federal agencies that oversee U.S. banks and savings institutions have adopted special Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) guidelines for the COVID-19 emergency period which, among other things, allow regulated lenders to seek CRA credit for "Loans, investments...