OTA Restart Has Lawmaker Support, McNerney Says
Re-establishing the Office of Technology Assessment seems to have significant lawmaker support, though questions remain about which agency should house it and the proper funding level, said House Commerce member Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., Friday at the Telecommunications Policy Research Institute.…
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He said there's a need for nonpartisan expertise on issues, calling OTA's disbanding in the 1990s "a tragedy." McNerney said he plans to introduce the Digital Equity Act in the House this week. The bill, which would allocate federal funding for digital inclusion projects, was introduced in the Senate in April (see 1904300194). The WiFi Caucus co-chair said maximizing unlicensed spectrum is a key goal of the caucus since a lot of 5G activity will be on Wi-Fi. He repeated his advocacy for opening up the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use. A member of the Artificial Intelligence Caucus, he said AI raises a host of ethical issues the caucus is grappling with, such as the potential for jobs displacement, and whether the caucus should give the National Institute of Standards and Technology a mandate to create standards and tests.