House Democratic leadership unveiled a $3 trillion relief package, the HEROES Act, that includes provisions to connect people to broadband. The legislation:

Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives unveiled the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, a new  COVID-19 stimulus bill that includes, among other things, billions in broadband benefit programs.

The switch to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated what equity advocates call the “digital divide,” the lack of access to a working device and a functioning, high-speed internet connection, explains Allison Socol, assistant director of P-12 policy at the advocacy nonprofit the Education Trust. Recent surveys conducted by the Education Trust asking parents about their experiences in this new norm have made it clear, Socol says, “that families are not experiencing this pandemic equally, and that low-income families and families of color in particular are mu

Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a bipartisan group of senators to urge the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives to include $2 billion in the next coronavirus relief package to help health care providers expand telehealth services by improving their access to broadband. The senators are calling for $2 billion in additional funding to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program, the only federal program that supports broadband deployment at urban and rural health care provider locations.

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) sent a stinging letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai detailing the agency’s chronic failures to correctly map and support New York households with limited broadband access.

The Federal Communication Commission’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been successful, Commissioner Brendan Carr said. The virus has spurred organizations across the world to provide work-from-home options for employees, and Commissioner Carr said that the transition found existing US infrastructure prepared. “What we’re saying very consistently is this was a stress test of the internet, and in the US, it performed very well,” he said. Commissioner Carr attributed the ease of the U.S.’s broadband landscape transition in part to increased high-speed fiber.

Large numbers of Baltimore households lack two essential tools for getting online: wireline broadband service at home and access to a computer. According to the 2018 American Community Survey, 96,000 households in Baltimore (40.7%) did not have wireline internet service, such as cable, fiber, or digital subscriber line service. And some 75,000 Baltimore City households, or one in three, do not have either a desktop or laptop computer.

Forty-six senators introduced the Emergency Educational Connections Act, legislation aimed at ensuring all K-12 students have adequate home internet connectivity and devices during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill is the Senate companion to legislation recently introduced by Rep Grace Meng (NY-06), but makes one important change: increasing the appropriation from $2 billion to $4 billion.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons told House lawmakers that the agency is “very, very closely” watching how contact tracing efforts by Google, Apple and other tech companies affect Americans’ privacy. “We are all over that,” Chairman Simons said during a call with House Commerce Committee lawmakers, adding that the FTC has been talking to the companies involved. Chairman Simons noted that one of the major players in the effort, Google, is already under an FTC order to uphold certain privacy standards.

State and local governments are working overtime to provide Internet service to all who need it during the pandemic, pushing out a range of ad hoc projects designed to keep members of their communities connected.