The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote today S.645, the Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act, that would require the Secretary of Commerce to assess and analyze the impact of broadband service deployment and adoption on the United States economy.
According to text of the bill, DoC would conduct an assessment every two years of the contribution of the digital economy to the U.S. economy. The assessment would include the impact of broadband, digital-enabling infrastructure, e-commerce and platform-enabled peer-to-peer commerce, and the production and consumption of digital media including free media.
The committee also approved several nominations including those of: Karen Dunn Kelley to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Heidi King to be administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Geoffrey Starks to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission.
