Announcing the Smart Cities and Communities Act! New legislation taht will enable a massive rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure.
The Smart Cities Council is pleased to announce Representatives Suzan DelBene and Yvette Clarke are re-introducing the Smart Cities and Communities Act May 20,2021.
The timing could not be better. As the nation comes out of the pandemic, Congress is set to consider historic legislation which will enable the rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure. Issues imapcting this rebuild include:
- How much spending is needed?
- How much spending is feasible?
- How to pay for the package?
- What is included in today’s definition of infrastructure?
- How do we ensure equity and inclusion in rebuilding?
Today’s smart technology best practices and solutions should be utilized to better connect our infrastructure creating system efficiencies, improving livability and workability, and enhancing overall resilience. The federal government has a great role to play in this effort.
The Bill serves to coordinate existing smart cities and communities programs across the federal agencies through the development of an interagency task force, and to make available vast federal resources to states and localities. It also provides funding to carry out smart cities and communities demonstration projects, and creates a workforce training program to facilitate smart infrastructure deployment. Issues such as cybersecurity, procurement, and standards development will also be addressed in the legislation. Finally, the bill promotes equity and inclusion as a central theme throughout.
Steve Crout, Director of Policy and Resilience Programs at the Smart Cities Council says “There has been perhaps no greater opportunity to pursue the development of smart cities and communities as the nation comes through the pandemic and Congress undertakes legislation to enable a massive rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure. Representatives DelBene and Clarke are leading the way through the introduction of the Smart Cities and Communities Act.”
Smart Cities Council applauds Representatives DelBene and Clarke for re-introducing the Smart Cities and Communities Act.
