New bicameral legislation was introduced aimed at stopping government use of facial recognition and other biometric technology.

Chairperson of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, introduced legislation on June 18 to fund research into policing activities including the use of emerging tech such as facial recognition.

Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., introduced the Expanding Opportunities for Broadband Deployment Act on June 11 to increase access to and accelerate deployment of broadband services across the United States.

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., introduced a bill to the House on April 21 to provide support for internet devices during emergencies related to COVID-19.

Implementing a proposed Federal grant program designed to improve state and local government cybersecurity would cost a total of $2.89 billion over the next six years including both expected grant totals and the cost to run the program, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs passed multiple cybersecurity bills, including the Cybersecurity Vulnerability Identification and Notification Act of 2019 and the Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act of 2020 at a March 11 markup.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in a Nov. 21 report that the DOTGOV Online Trust in Government Act would cost very little to implement.

A bill introduced last week by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., would direct that the Federal government spend $100 million per year for five years on a program to provide mobile broadband “hotspot” devices to schools and libraries.

California legislators on Sept. 12 passed a bill that would ban facial recognition technologies in state and local law enforcement body cameras for three years.