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This afternoon I filed comments in the FCC’s Open Internet proceeding on behalf of ITI and our member companies. Upon first read, I hope the filing is as eye-catching for what’s not in it, as what is. Since the Verizon decision came down – and actually for more than a decade since this debate really began – slogans, catch phrases, and half-truths have been thrown around that are not reflective of [...]
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It was another good day in Congress for the initiative to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) following a House Ways and Means Committee trade hearing – this time at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on “The Role of Trade and Technology in 21st-Century Manufacturing.” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) led off his questions with a strong acknowledgement of the benefits an expanded ITA will [...]
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As the appropriations process moves toward the Senate, the federal contractor community has cause for concern with a series of amendments in Fiscal Year 2015 House appropriations bills that could mean mass debarment of federal contractors who have been involved in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This morning, the IT Alliance for Public [...]
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The ongoing effort to expand products covered by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) got a helpful congressional boost at today’s trade hearing by the Subcommittee on Trade of the House Ways and Means Committee. Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) began the hearing, expressing the frustration so many are feeling with China’s “intransigence” on this effort, underscoring the importance that any final [...]
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Today the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved with unanimous support a bipartisan bill, the EPS Service Parts Act of 2014 (H.R. 5057), introduced by Reps. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Paul Tonko (D-NY), that will extend current energy efficiency standards so manufacturers can continue to produce, distribute and service energy efficient external power supplies (EPS) for older, out of production [...]
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Earlier this week, the President signed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (S.1681 – P.L. 113-126). The bill authorizes appropriations for intelligence and intelligence-related activities across 16 federal agencies in the intelligence community (IC). The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) has been monitoring provisions of interest for contractors as it moved through the legislative [...]
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Some good news coming out of the high-level U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing this week is that China has signaled it is continuing domestic consultations to raise its level of ambition to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA). And this signaling was apparent during the meetings today and yesterday at very senior levels. The bad news is that [...]
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Negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) launched this week at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva aimed at removing tariffs on a broad range of environmental technologies. ITI, as part of the Coalition for Green Trade, is advocating for a timely and ambitious negotiation of the EGA to ensure a wide range of new and innovative technologies designed to protect the environment [...]
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Legislation intended to promote domestic firms that actually would cause more harm than good for U.S. businesses did not advance before the New Jersey legislature recessed for the summer. Momentum on the bills – Senate Bill 1811 (Sweeney-D) and Assembly Bill 3059 (Egan-D) – waned as legislators learned that the proposals could unintentionally isolate New Jersey from U.S.-based businesses that are [...]
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Earlier this year, I wrote about why it was important for the Florida legislature to bring back the position of state chief information officer (CIO) and reestablish (and also fully fund) a centralized agency focused on managing the state’s information technology. State lawmakers agreed and passed legislation, H.B. 7073, which was signed into law by the governor and goes into effect today. Before [...]
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