Legislative Update -- June 29, 2023
June 29, 2023
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Illinois will receive $1.04 billion to deploy high speed internet to all unserved and underserved households and small businesses across the state! Nationwide, $42.45 billion is dedicated to connecting all Americans as part of the Internet for All initiative. The State of Illinois now starts to work on developing a high-quality proposal to deploy this funding and ensure everyone gets connected.
States, D.C., and territories will use funding from the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to administer grant programs within their borders. The BEAD funding will be used to deploy or upgrade broadband networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet service. Once deployment goals are met, any remaining funding can be used to pursue eligible access-, adoption-, and equity-related uses. We will share more information when it is available.
ALA Legislative Update
Seventy years ago, leaders from across the library and literary world joined together in writing to condemn attacks on free expression. The result was the Freedom to Read Statement, which has become a rallying cry for information professionals for decades.
Today ALA is asking you to add your name in support of this groundbreaking statement: Sign the Freedom to Read Statement!
The original authors of this statement, ALA and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), are calling on individuals and organizations to join dozens of library groups, publishers and more than 700 authors – from Jodi Picoult to Ibram X. Kendi – in signing the Statement to reaffirm support for the freedom to read.
To be clear: this is about more than words. That’s why everyone who signs the statement can join Unite Against Book Bans, a campaign to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. Every name on the Freedom to Read statement is one more person who can stand with a local library when the challenge hits close to home.
Sign the statement, share with your community, and join Unite Against Book Bans to stand at the ready against threats to freedom in your community.
Thank you for protecting the freedom to read!
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