The Big Story: Congress hits roadblock on immigration reform
A potential pathway to citizenship for Dreamers—a group critical to the startup ecosystem—was derailed this week when the Senate Parliamentarian blocked Democrats’ efforts to include immigration reform in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Many Dreamers are entrepreneurs, and, as a group, they employ over 86,000 individuals across the country. Legislators are now considering alternative proposals to ensure immigration provisions remain a priority.
Democrats have proposed a change to the immigration registry date as a possible solution that would survive the scrutiny of the parliamentarian. Doing so would allow migrants who have been in the U.S. since an updated date to apply for permanent residency, ensuring protection for millions of immigrants. Other options floated include setting a “rolling” cutoff date subject to automatic adjustments, among other ideas.
Regardless of the prospects in the reconciliation bill, congressional action on Dreamers following the recent DACA ruling is essential. The decision has created added uncertainty for thousands of immigrants and failing to act could have significant consequences for the startup ecosystem and the U.S. at large. Dreamers are critical contributors to our economy, the STEM talent pool, and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Neglecting to recognize the contributions of Dreamers—many of whom only call the U.S. home—and failing to acknowledge the over 25 percent of immigrant entrepreneurs that make up our diverse startup ecosystem, would be a disservice to the openly innovative environment we are creating.
Policy Roundup:
Tech groups sue Texas over harmful social media law. Tech industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) are suing Texas in the hopes of stopping the state from instituting HB 20—legislation that bars large social media companies from removing content based on the user’s political “viewpoint.” The law would impede Internet companies’ efforts to curb disinformation, propaganda, and extremism, and ignores the realities and difficulties of content moderation at scale.
Inaugural Trade and Technology Council to take place. The launch of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council slated to begin next Wednesday looked in doubt this week thanks to a diplomatic spat, but EU policymakers confirmed their planned attendance late Thursday. The Council, announced in June, is designed to be a forum to resolve transatlantic trade issues and develop global standards, creating certainty from which startups can benefit. At the meeting, policymakers should work towards transatlantic alignment in ways that support startups, as we noted in a blog post this week.
Senators key in on big data, competition, and privacy. This week, Congress zeroed in on consumer privacy, with a Senate Judiciary panel hearing examining how large companies use data and a letter from several Senate Democrats to the FTC urging the agency to write privacy rules for companies. Unfortunately, much of the conversation around privacy focuses on the tech industry’s largest players, even though startups will be disproportionately impacted by the debate over consumer privacy protections. Congress needs to pass a comprehensive federal privacy framework that protects users and creates consistent, clear obligations for startups.
New bipartisan bill proposes expanding access to patent office resources and services. This week, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Unleashing American Innovators Act, a bill designed to expand diversity and inclusion through better participation in the U.S. patent system. It calls for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to establish more satellite offices and improve outreach to innovators that are traditionally underrepresented in the patent system. The bill would also lower patent application fees for small businesses and establish a patentability assessment pilot to help first-time prospective inventors assess the viability of their applications. These proposals are aligned with policies Engine has championed, and as we have noted, “could be one step forward on the path to diversity gains in U.S. innovation more broadly.”
Senate bill would bring more transparency to patent system. A second bill from Sens. Leahy and Tillis, the Pride in Patent Ownership Act, aims to bring more transparency to the system by requiring that patent owners and assignees disclose to the PTO that they own a patent, and also requiring that they record assignments or changes in ownership. This bill would make it easier for companies interested in licensing patents to find the right owner. And importantly, this bill would also combat the trend of bad actors creating shell companies to conceal the scope and nature of their abusive patent assertion campaigns against startups and small businesses.
Startup Roundup:
#StartupsEverywhere: Chicago, Illinois. Melon is a company working to build and implement e-commerce solutions for an array of businesses that are increasingly relying on digital consumers, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Nicholson—Founder and CTO—told us why he founded Melon, the ongoing impact he’s seeing of COVID-19 on the businesses they work with, and how startups are looking for certainty across an array of policy topics.
