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Title 47 — Telecommunications

Chapter 16 — Broadband Access

§ 1722. Sense of Congress

Statutory text

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1)

a broadband connection and digital literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals—

(A)

participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions of the United States; and

(B)

access health care and essential services, obtain education, and build careers;

(2)

digital exclusion—

(A)

carries a high societal and economic cost;

(B)

materially harms the opportunity of an individual with respect to the economic success, educational achievement, positive health outcomes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of that individual; and

(C)

exacerbates existing wealth and income gaps, especially those experienced by covered populations;

(3)

achieving digital equity for all people of the United States requires additional and sustained investment and research efforts;

(4)

the Federal Government, as well as State, tribal, territorial, and local governments, have made social, legal, and economic obligations that necessarily extend to how the citizens and residents of those governments access and use the internet; and

(5)

achieving digital equity is a matter of social and economic justice and is worth pursuing.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. Digital Equity Act of 2021

    Pub. L. 117–58 div. F title III § 60303 · 135 Stat. 429

    Enacted · 47 U.S.C. § 1722

    (Pub. L. 117–58, div. F, title III, § 60303, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 1212.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (Pub. L. 117–58, div. F, title III, § 60303, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 1212.)

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    SEC. 60303. SENSE OF CONGRESS.   It is the sense of Congress that— (1) a broadband connection and digital literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals— (A) participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions of the United States; and (B) access health care and essential services, obtain education, and build careers; (2) digital exclusion— (A) carries a high societal and economic cost; (B) materially harms the opportunity of an individual with respect to the economic success, educational achievement, positive health outcomes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of that individual; and (C) exacerbates existing wealth and income gaps, especially those experienced by covered populations; (3) achieving digital equity for all people of the United States requires additional and sustained investment and research efforts; (4) the Federal Government, as well as State, tribal, territorial, and local governments, have made social, legal, and economic obligations that necessarily extend to how the citizens and residents of those governments access and use the internet; and (5) achieving digital equity is a matter of social and economic justice and is worth pursuing.

1 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision

Credits

(Pub. L. 117–58, div. F, title III, § 60303, , 135 Stat. 1212.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc47.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-09-09

USLM identifier /us/usc/t47/s1722