Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2459 (SB 2459) into law, allowing electronic signatures at the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA), and the Capital Development Board (CDB).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to schedule a vote on the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by September 27.
Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have introduced the American Telecommunications Security Act that would prohibit Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act from being used to purchase telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies seen as national security threats, including Huawei and ZTE.
Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., John Katko, R-N.Y., Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., have introduced legislation that aims to modernize the United States’ digital identity infrastructure and protect Americans from having their personal information stolen.
Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a $94 billion Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act in the House and Senate, respectively. The bill also has the support of Clyburn’s Rural Broadband Task Force, composed of 27 House Democrats.
Federal lawmakers in both the House and Senate have included an additional $2 billion for the Department of Labor (DoL) to distribute to help states upgrade unemployment insurance (UI) infrastructure. The funding was included in both the version of the American Rescue Act that passed the House on Feb. 27 and a draft of the Senate companion bill MeriTalk has obtained.
In the first legislative step toward paving the way for easier passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced the text of a joint 2021 budget resolution on Feb. 1.
A bipartisan group of senators released the framework for two separate COVID relief bills Dec. 14, the smaller of which includes $160 billion for state, local, and tribal governments along with a distribution formula for states.
Three members of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. – introduced bicameral legislation to appropriate $28 billion in new Federal aid and establish programs to enhance state and local government modernization and cybersecurity.
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., introduced the We Need Eviction Data Now Act (H.R. 7743) on July 23 to direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a database of eviction records.
