Innovators Highlight Congressional Priorities for Economic Success

WASHINGTON, January 24, 2023 (Newswire.com) - ACT | The App Association and its members outlined top policy priorities for the 118^th Congress. Members of the App Association are a diverse group of small businesses leading the software-driven transformation of industries from healthcare and education to public safety and agriculture. These U.S. business and technology leaders encouraged Congress to promote innovation while maintaining a legal and policy landscape that enables small businesses to continue leading the evolving app economy and workforce in every state and congressional district.

Priorities for small business economic success in the digital marketplace include: 

• Data privacy: Congress should set a single, national set of data privacy and security rules across all states and territories, while better-protecting consumers.
• Cybersecurity and encryption: Congress should improve our cybersecurity posture by protecting encryption across the nation and enhancing information sharing between small businesses.
• Competition and antitrust: Congress should encourage competition through a restrained enforcement approach that respects the consumer benefits platforms enable, while continuing to monitor tech-driven marketplaces to ensure competition is producing optimal results for consumers and small businesses.
• Web3 and crypto assets: Congress should continue to increase policymakers' technical understanding of blockchain and crypto asset technologies as small businesses utilize such technology to create jobs and grow the economy.
• Digital health: Congress should support privacy, security, and interoperability for digital health tools to ensure patients and providers can continue to rely on them for better and more cost-effective care. 
• Broadband: Congress should support fast, reliable, and affordable broadband for all, and treat internet access as a necessity in the modern age.
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Workforce Development: We urge Congress to enhance resources at all levels of workforce development, while also carving out additional resources and programs for historically disenfranchised communities. 
• Standards and standard-essential patents (SEPs): Congress should stop SEP abuses and protect U.S. competitiveness and national security.
• Copyright protections: Congress should continue to ensure app makers can rely on strong copyright protections for their work as they seek to grow their brands.
• Tax: Updating the tax treatment of digital health monitoring, telework, and research and development are a few of the ways Congress should improve tax policy to advantage small businesses in the digital marketplace. 

App Association members asked Congress to strike the right balance on these priorities for the app economy to continue thriving and creating jobs in their states and districts. The letter from members can be read here.

About ACT | The App Association: The App Association is a global trade association for small and medium-sized technology companies. Our members are entrepreneurs, innovators, and independent developers within the global app ecosystem that engage with verticals across every industry. We work with and for our members to promote a policy environment that rewards and inspires innovation while providing resources that help them raise capital, create jobs, and continue to build incredible technology.