A RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING THE USE OF SPONSORED DATA PROGRAMS
WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) supports access to broadband which leads to increased opportunities in education, health, employment, and entrepreneurship;
WHEREAS, African American and Latino communities are smart-phone dependent with a significant number of their members using smart phones as the sole or primary sources of broadband access;
WHEREAS, according to an April 2015 study from the Pew Internet Research Center, 48 percent of smart-phone dependent Americans have closed their smart-phone services as the result of a financial hardship resulting in a lack of broadband access to vital services such as healthcare, educational and job opportunities, and communications;
WHEREAS, free data plans, also known as sponsored data or zero rating, enable consumers to access certain content without it being counted against their allotted data;
WHEREAS, free data effectively works to reduce financial hardships of low-income consumers by reducing the cost of access to certain content thereby staying digitally connected to healthcare, educational and job opportunities and communications;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) encourages the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to support free data programs as a cost effective policy for keeping low-income consumers connected to the internet;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NBCSL encourages the FCC in cases where claims of net neutrality are made, find that as a method of low cost access, free data serves to bring more consumers online and ensure that increased market demand for broadband access is met; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, the Chairman and Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission and other federal, state and local government officials as appropriate.
- SPONSOR: Senator Valencia Seay (GA)
- Committee of Jurisdiction: Telecommunications, Science, and Technology Policy Committee
- Certified by Committee Co-Chair: Senator Anastasia Pittman (OK)
- Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2016
- Ratification is certified by: Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President
A RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING CONSUMER PRIVACY PROTECTIONS ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS
WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) supports the emerging knowledge economy that increases economic opportunity for communities of color while improving the level of convenience for accessing and purchasing goods and services online;
WHEREAS, a disproportionate number of African American and Latino consumers access the Internet via mobile devices;
WHEREAS, the use of profiling capabilities may contribute to discriminatory practices against
African Americans;
WHEREAS, big data, the accumulation of high-volume, high-velocity information assets, can be used by governments and corporations to gather insights into and data on certain consumer groups;
WHEREAS, the emergence of new online platforms and the technological capacity of these platforms have increased access to consumers’ private data;
WHEREAS, among these new and emerging platforms are non-Internet service provider platforms such as smartphone operating systems, web browsers, search engines, and social networks all utilized by African American and Latino consumers;
WHEREAS, disparate privacy obligations imposed on only one segment of the Internet ecosystem will harm competition and confuse consumers; and
WHEREAS, in contrast to many other Internet ecosystem players, such as operating systems, search engines, social networks and data brokers that may have little or no contact with the individuals from whom they collect data, Internet service providers have a built-in incentive to safeguard the privacy of their subscribers due to their ongoing business relationship with their customers.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that to promote fair competition, avoid consumer confusion, and encourage investment, innovation and beneficial uses of big data, the NBCSL calls on Congress to take the necessary steps to ensure that flexible privacy standards grounded in the appropriate fair information practice principles apply equally to all entities and all platforms across the Internet ecosystem; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Federal Communications Commission should refrain from adopting prescriptive rules regarding the use, disclosure, and security of consumers’ personal information for Internet service providers that are not consistent with, or more onerous than, those that apply to the rest of the Internet ecosystem, as enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, as any such disparities in privacy standards would serve only to confuse consumers.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, the Chairman and Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission, and other federal, state and local government officials as appropriate.
- SPONSOR: Senator Valencia Seay (GA)
- Committee of Jurisdiction: Telecommunications, Science, and Technology Policy Committee
- Certified by Committee Co-Chair: Senator Anastasia Pittman (OK)
- Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2016
- Ratification is certified by: Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President
A RESOLUTION URGING THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO MODERNIZE THE LIFELINE PROGRAM TO ADDRESS THE HOMEWORK GAP
WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) supports policies that help to close the digital divide and make it easier for low-income households with school-age children to have access to broadband Internet;
WHEREAS, research suggests roughly seven in ten teachers assign homework that requires access to the Internet;
WHEREAS, children of color and low-income students are at a disadvantage without online access in order to do school work;
WHEREAS, Pew Research analysis of the Census data finds that the lowest-income households have the lowest home broadband subscription rates;
WHEREAS, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, there are 29 million households with school-aged children nationwide and approximately 5 million of those households do not have high-speed internet service at home;
WHEREAS, low-income households, especially black and Hispanic ones, make up a disproportionate share of that 5 million;
WHEREAS, roughly one-third (31.4 percent) of households whose incomes fall below $50,000 and with children ages 6 to 17 do not have a high-speed internet connection at home; and
WHEREAS, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated a rule-making process to extend the Lifeline Program, an Initiative that subsidizes telephone subscriptions for low-income households, to allow recipients to apply support the cost of their broadband subscription.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) urges the FCC to modernize its Lifeline Program to allow participants to support broadband Internet service;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, NBCSL urges the FCC to make licensed and unlicensed spectrum more readily available for wireless broadband, which includes Wi-Fi, so that there are more opportunities for students to get their school work done; and
BE IT FINALLYRESOLVED that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Chairman and Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission, and other federal, state, and local government officials, as appropriate.
- SPONSOR: Senator Valencia Seay (GA)
- Committee of Jurisdiction: Telecommunications, Science, and Technology Policy Committee
- Certified by Committee Co-Chair: Senator Anastasia Pittman (OK)
- Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2016
- Ratification is certified by: Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President
A RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING THE SUPPORT OF INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDOUT TO PAVE THE WAY FOR NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS
WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) supports the need to ensure mobile broadband access in creating economically sustainable communities of color;
WHEREAS, the African American community leads the nation in wireless broadband adoption-12 percent of African Americans are smartphone-dependent, compared with 4 percent of Whites according to the April 2015 Pew Research Center Report, U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015;
WHEREAS, the U.S. leads the world in 4G LTE services – of which 99.6 percent of Americans have access to – providing broad coverage and wireless connectivity that offers unmatched consumer benefits in areas such as education and health;
WHEREAS, building on the value of wireless to consumers, the next generation of mobile connectivity will increase network reliability, reduce latency (delays in data communications), provide consumers and businesses with higher speeds, and be capable of serving a greater number of wireless devices than current technology;
WHEREAS, to ensure the success of next generation technology and the United States’ leadership in this next generation of wireless, wireless carriers will have to deploy small antenna
infrastructure connected via wireline fiber facilities;
WHEREAS, next generation signals cover shorter distances thus requiring several times as many
smaller cells than traditional cell towers and that next generation networks work only if deployed
intensively; and
WHEREAS, in order for next generation networks to have maximum impact for consumers, wireless carriers, state and local governments – especially in densely populated urban areas – must work together to encourage deployment of this technology.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) affirms that local governments should balance the deployment of new generation wireless technology with local governments’ role in managing rights-of-way, maintaining safe communities, and promoting economic development; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that local governments should modernize its permitting processes to enable the rapid deployment of small antenna infrastructure to support next generation networks; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NBCSL urges local governments to work collaboratively with businesses to bring next generation networks to their cities.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, the Chairman and Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission and other and local government officials as appropriate.
- SPONSOR: Senator Valencia Seay (GA)
- Committee of Jurisdiction: Telecommunications, Science, and Technology Policy Committee
- Certified by Committee Co-Chair: Senator Anastasia Pittman (OK)
- Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 3, 2016
- Ratification is certified by: Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President