State Scoop reports…
A bipartisan group of four U.S. senators this week introduced legislation aimed at improving the maps the federal government uses to distribute broadband funding to the states, as well as giving the public the ability to challenge the accuracy of those maps.
The Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2019, as the bill is known, would require broadband providers to use data generated by geospatial information systems when drawing the maps they submit to the Federal Communications Commission, which it uses as a guide to allocate billions of dollars in subsidies and grants.
They also mention Senator Klobuchar’s Improving Broadband Mapping Act…
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, has also proposed legislation that would grant power to municipalities during the broadband mapping process. Klobuchar introduced the Improving Broadband Mapping Act of 2019 in March, which would require the FCC to establish a process by which consumers and local governments could report their own data to verify carrier-submitted data. The bill is currently before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
