CWA-Backed Broadband Data Improvement Act Passes

The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492), a key initiative of CWA's Speed Matters campaign, passed the Senate unanimously on Friday and the House passed it's version of the bill on Monday.  Slight differences in the bills were ironed out in a joint committee yesterday and the measure has been sent to the president's desk.

The legislation requires the FCC to conduct annual studies on broadband deployment, adds a question to the federal Census on dial-up and broadband use, and provides grants to encourage private and public partnerships to identify barriers to broadband adoption in the states.

Senate sponsor Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said, "we cannot manage what we can't measure. This bill will give us the baseline statistics we need in order to eventually achieve the successful deployment of broadband access and services to all Americans."

CWA President Larry Cohen earlier urged the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to support the bill, stating:  "High-speed broadband is the critical infrastructure for the 21st century.  It is the platform on which we will grow jobs and our economy in the coming years."

Congressional supporters cited the unique Speed Matters national broadband speed report showing that the United States still lags most other advanced nations in high-speed Internet deployment, and that rural areas and many inner cities especially are poorly served.