Lobbying

The race to build 6G is on—or, at least, the race to start selling the idea to Washington.

USTelecom recently sent a letter to practically every politician who might have a hand in deciding how broadband grants are awarded – the White House and key Cabinet officials, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, other local officials, Tribal leaders, and state broadband offices.

From a lobbying perspective, municipal broadband providers have never had a seat at the table. In any given state, a municipal broadband provider might get its voice heard through organizations like the League of Cities and Counties – or whatever that is called in a given state. But municipal broadband internet service providers (ISPs) have never had a national voice to push back against the hard lobbying that has been leveled against them for the last few decades.

As you might expect, the lobbying is becoming hot and heavy to position internet service providers (ISPs) to win the $42.5 billion of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants that will likely start being awarded in 2023. This is one of the most interesting lobbying challenges I’ve ever seen because there is no one central place that will be awarding these grants. Congress gave the responsibility for these grants to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), but the money is going to flow from them to the states.

A group of municipal officials have formed a new advocacy group for municipal broadband in the United States, dubbed the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB). "For decades, municipal networks have achieved success across the country. Now, with AAPB, we have a clear unified voice," the group noted on its new website.

WISPA hired David M.

Gigi Sohn is still up for confirmation by the Senate to complete the Federal Communications Commission. I’ve known Gigi for many years and respected her from the first time I saw her in action. She isn’t a political agent trying to figure out the best path to the top. She has strong beliefs, and she’ll tell you what they are in a wonderful Long Island blur of passion. She respects other beliefs and ideas but she isn’t going to pretend she agrees with you when she doesn’t.

The campaign against Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court was spearheaded by a new conservative dark-money group that was created in 2020: the American Accountability Foundation (AAF). An explicit purpose of the AAF—a politically active, tax-exempt nonprofit charity that doesn’t disclose its backers—is to prevent the approval of all Biden Administration nominees. The AAF’s approach represents a new escalation in partisan warfare, and underscores the growing role that secret spending has played in deepening the polarization in Washington.

The tech industry is lobbying statehouses across the country to pass privacy bills that critics call weak. Most tech firms would prefer a nationwide law, but since Congress hasn't budged on the issue, the industry now seeks to preempt states from approving tougher privacy rules like California's. Utah lawmakers considered and passed a state privacy bill in less than two weeks, and it's now awaiting the governor's signature. Utah would become the fourth state with a privacy law, following Colorado, Virginia and California.

At least 17 members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, have children who work or have recently worked for Google, Amazon, Meta, or Apple, according to an analysis by Emily.