Communications and Technology

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) spoke this morning at the Great Lakes Technology Showcase at the Greater Columbus Convention Center about his efforts in Congress to implement pro-innovation policies. Latta touched on his efforts to expand access to rural broadband and the recent passage of his bill, the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition, Latta talked about the SELF DRIVE Act, legislation that would put in place a policy framework fo... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) questioned Federal Communications Commissioners on efforts to expand access to rural broadband at an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing held this afternoon. The FCC recently announced a new $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program” to support telehealth for low-income Americans, especially those living in rural areas and veterans. In one of Chairman Ajit Pai’s answers to a previous question, he mentioned McClure, Oh... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), Co-Chair of the Rural Broadband Caucus, raised the importance of expanding access to high-speed Internet for rural communities at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. The E&C Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing was entitled “Realizing the Benefits of Rural Broadband: Challenges and Solutions” and examined the efforts of the Subcommittee to promote rural broadband and discussed additional steps that may be taken to... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, questioned Federal Trade Commissioners about consumer protection and misleading medication advertisements at a hearing this morning. At the oversight hearing, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph Simons and Commissioners Maureen Ohlhausen, Noah Phillips, Rohit Chopra, and Rebecca Slaughter answered questions from Committee Members on a number of issues.... Read more

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed two pieces of legislation authored by Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) to spur innovation and embrace cutting-edge technology. The two bills, H.R. 4881, the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act, and H.R. 6032, the SMART IoT Act, were approved with bipartisan support. The bipartisan Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act establishes a task force, operating under the direction of the FCC and in collaboration with USDA, which will begin... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) released the following statement after the Transportation Research Center (TRC), Ohio State University, and the state of Ohio broke ground on the state-of-the-art Smart Center yesterday in East Liberty. The Smart Center will be the world’s biggest autonomous vehicle testing facility. “The groundbreaking of the Transportation Research Center’s Smart Center shows that Ohio is uniquely positioned to lead self-driving car innovation,” said Latta. “Along with t... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) submitted written testimony to the Ohio Senate Transportation, Commerce and Workforce Committee today highlighting the benefits of autonomous vehicles and his efforts in Congress to pass legislation providing the proper Federal framework for the technology. The committee, chaired by Ohio Senator Frank LaRose, was holding an informative hearing on the technology. Latta, who chairs the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consu... Read more

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology discussed legislation to provide regulatory relief for small businesses, authored by Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), at a legislative hearing yesterday. The bipartisan bill, H.R. 3787, the Small Entity Regulatory Relief Opportunity (SERRO) Act, would reduce the regulatory burden for small entities under the jurisdiction of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules. The bill would require the FCC to stre... Read more

Congressmen Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA) have introduced bipartisan legislation to improve connectivity in rural areas in order to reduce barriers to implementation of precision agriculture. The legislation, the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act, requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to form a task force in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to evaluate the best ways to meet the technological needs of precision agriculture. Precision agr... Read more

Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) released the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to approve the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. “I firmly believe in and support net neutrality principles such as no blocking, no throttling, and no paid prioritization that are important elements of a free and open Internet. At the same time, it is not necessary to use Depression-era regulations and a heavy-handed government approach to achieve them. Today’s dec... Read more