ACDDE to Seek FCC to Support Minority Tax Certificate, Help Libraries

The Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment will recommend the FCC support a bill on minority tax certificates, advocate for more interagency cooperation to assist libraries in providing digital services and make accessible information for newcomers to broadcasting, according to reports from the ACDDE’s working groups at the current iteration’s second-to-last virtual meeting Thursday. The committee’s charter expires in July, and the last meeting, where final recommendations will be voted on, is June 24.

The FCC declined to comment on whether acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel committed to renewing the ACDDE’s charter. In remarks, she told the body it had her support, and she wants to encourage it to continue working on creating more opportunities for minorities, women and children from low-income households. “I’ll make sure you have whatever agency resources you need to do so,” Rosenworcel said. She said the FCC needs to promote “mentoring programs and internships and networking” and emphasized the agency’s work on E-rate and the emergency broadband benefit. Rosenworcel announced an FCC webpage seeking ideas to promote that program (see 2102110059).

The other commissioners spoke at the meeting and supported ACDDE. The FCC’s role in ensuring diversity of viewpoints is “indispensable,” said Commissioner Nathan Simington, praising the agency for expanding its viewpoint of diversity to incorporate a diversity of lived experiences. Commissioner Brendan Carr said making sure everyone in the country is connected is one of the agency’s most important goals. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the new administration is an opportunity to make strides in areas the commission previously ignored, such as “diversity in the media ownership management and employment space.”

After the committee was asked if the change in FCC leadership would affect recommendations, Chair Anna Gomez of Wiley said the panel has a “bipartisan mission,” citing the support from all four commissioners. Though that was the only on-the-record response, captions for the FCC’s livestream of the meeting appeared to inadvertently catch the ACDDE’s internal discussion of how to respond.

According to the captions, unidentified committee members said the question was “not very helpful” and “political,” but the discussion ended up in line with Gomez’s official response. “The short answer is the mission of the group hasn't changed between administrations, but [Rosenworcel] is free to direct the group to look into anything new they would like, as long as the charter is open and active,” an unidentified member said. “We are not going to be changing what we say or what we recommend because there's been a change in the administration,” said another commenter.

Committee working groups announced their plans for likely final recommendations.

The Access to Capital WG will recommend the FCC support proposed legislation from Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., to resurrect the minority tax certificate (see 2009090068) and is exploring asking the agency to offer “enhancements.” Those could include a recommendation that the FCC decide what ownership percentages are allowed under the program and the possibility of creating a similar credit for MVPD carriage of independent programmers, said WG member David Honig, senior adviser to the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. The subgroup is planning to ask the FCC to host information on the Nielsen rating system and acquiring investment capital for fledgling broadcasters, said ACDDE members DuJuan McCoy, Circle City CEO and Skip Dillard, Emmis Communications operations manager.

The Digital Empowerment and Inclusion WG plans a symposium April 28 on supplier diversity, aimed at helping small and minority-owned companies do business with large tech companies, said Lerman Senter attorney Jenell Trigg. The group’s recommendations will urge the FCC to use “the bully pulpit” to promote more interagency cooperation to assist libraries and tribal organizations with keeping their constituencies connected, said ACDDE member Harin Contractor, Nexight Group program manager.

The Diversity in Tech working group will host a roundtable for minority, female and small business entrepreneurs March 24 and compile a resource guide for such entrepreneurs, to be voted on at the final meeting, said Rosa Mendoza Davila, CEO of ALLvanza. The working group is also compiling federal funding opportunities for such businesses, such as grants, loans and auctions, said ACDDE member and Wireless Infrastructure Association Senior Adviser Ronald Johnson.