What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
Gates Foundation: AI Could Help the Poorest Catch Up, or Leave Them Further Behind
On September 15, the Gates Foundation released the 2026 Goalkeepers Report, Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can't Delay. Goalkeepers tracks progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are 17 goals adopted by 193 world leaders in 2015.
Immersive technology is poised to transform the way people work, play, and learn. From an emerging creator economy of virtual goods and services to cutting-edge applications that can improve education, health care, and manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies are unlocking new opportunities to communicate, access information, and engage with the world. These changes raise important questions, and how policymakers respond will have profound implications for the economy and society.
A discussion featuring Anthony Wanger, Executive Chairman of DG Matrix and Founder and CEO of Regnaw Capital, LLC. Drawing on Wanger’s deep experience, a delve into the rapidly evolving digital infrastructure landscape and the forces reshaping how digital infrastructure is built, deployed, and scaled. The current state of the hyperscale ecosystem, the changing relationship between cloud providers and telecom operators, and how the growth of AI is accelerating demand for data centers, power, and connectivity.
House passes bill attempting to lower data center costs
The House passed a bill meant to protect consumers from higher electricity rates caused by data centers in one of its final votes before the midterms. The bill passed under a procedure that fast-tracks noncontroversial legislation and requires a two-thirds majority vote.
The 2026 Bay Area AccessTECH Summit is a gathering for leaders and practitioners dedicated to digital inclusion. This event is designed for nonprofit organizations, government agencies, funders, health and workforce partners, and community stakeholders committed to bridging the digital divide.
As Congress considers how to respond to the risks of artificial intelligence, from discrimination to deceptive content and unsafe outputs, lawmakers are increasingly confronting a threshold question: when does AI regulation regulate conduct, and when does it regulate speech?
Agenda
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H.R. 10158, Automotive National and Economic Security Act of 2026 (Reps. Harshbarger and Dingell)
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H.R. 6832, Packaging and Claims Knowledge (PACK) Act of 2025 (Rep. Weber)
Public Municipal Data Centers
We are facing the multi-trillion-dollar march of private artificial intelligence (AI) data centers into our economy, politics, ecosystem, and cultural life. Amid calls for blanket moratoria and investments in data centers in space, how can the public assert a controlling interest in the development and outcomes of this technology? This essay proposes developing municipally owned, small-scale data center capacity to support municipal services and public-interest AI.
Proposed Fourth Quarter 2026 Universal Service Fund Contribution Factor
The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announced that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2026 will be 0.42 or 42.0 percent. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in consultation with the OMD, instructs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to apply $69 million in unused funds to offset the Schools and Libraries program demand and $56 million in unused funds to offset the Rural Health Care program demand.
It's not too late
The White House, Congress and the country's leading AI companies have allowed AI to grow faster, stronger, more powerful and wildly lucrative (and dangerous), with no serious effort to control it or spread the benefits beyond the super-wealthy. It's not too late to change this. But if they all dither, duck or dance around it, the chances of AI worst-case scenarios will explode, likely early in 2027, according to people who truly understands AI. Yes, President Trump opposes regulation or bipartisan efforts. Yes, AI companies are obsessed with more money, more speed.