Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today released its 2024 State Policy Principles. These principles will guide the work TechNet’s award-winning state policy team does in 2024. The following statement can be attributed to David Edmonson, TechNet’s Senior Vice President for State Policy and Government Relations:

“Each year, we work closely with our diverse membership to create recommendations for policymakers that foster innovation, promote job growth, and help ensure the U.S. wins the next era of innovation. We look forward to working with state leaders across the country to adopt these smart, adaptive, and long-range strategies that will strengthen our local communities, spur innovation, and strengthen America’s global competitiveness.”

TechNet’s 2024 State Policy Priorities focuses on eleven specific areas:

Privacy and Security

Consumers expect, and should expect, to trust the tech sector to protect their data. One of TechNet’s top priorities is ensuring that governments focus on policies that harness market incentives to drive effective risk management and do not exacerbate harms to victims of criminal hacks. Learn more here.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the algorithms that often support artificial intelligence have generated policymaker interest. Policymakers’ understanding of how these technologies work is vital for responsible policymaking, and TechNet is committed to responsible AI development and use. TechNet will advocate for a federal AI framework that brings uniformity to all Americans regardless of where they live, encourages innovation, addresses risks, and ensures that consumers are protected. Learn more here.

Education and Workforce Development

With global economic leadership at stake, education and workforce development are more critical than ever. TechNet supports policies that help prepare our students to be a successful part of a global, interconnected, and technology-driven economy. Learn more here.

Energy and Environment

TechNet supports policies that are technology-neutral and that foster and promote innovation in clean energy supply and demand for a sustainable climate. This allows companies to create, thrive, and compete in the United States and around the globe. Technology is a significant driver of efficiencies and innovative solutions for solving a wide range of environmental issues, so it should be fostered through smart policy and research and development funding. Learn more here.

Financial Technology (Fintech)

TechNet promotes the banking and fintech sectors by removing regulatory barriers to financial access and literacy, economic growth, and job creation. TechNet supports innovation in the banking and fintech sectors by encouraging state policymakers to ensure the regulatory system remains technology-neutral and regulates new technologies, including digital currencies and alternative banking, using a balanced approach that encourages fair competition. TechNet supports private sector efforts to provide consumers with new, safe, secure, reliable, and accessible financial tools. Learn more here.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice

The technology industry is committed to promoting an inclusive workforce that reflects the diversity of our country and our customers. We support education, workforce development, and immigration policies that empower all people to continue making important contributions to our nation and communities. Learn more here.

New Technologies and Future of Work

State legislatures, local jurisdictions, and courts across the country have reacted in different manners to the rise of new technologies and the sharing and gig economies in an effort to oversee or regulate new and, in some cases, disruptive technologies. Any new legal or regulatory requirements should be tailored to the new product, directly tied to an identified harm, limited to gaps in existing coverage, focused on bad actors, and narrowly tailored to avoid conflicts or discrepancies in the law and unintended consequences. Learn more here.

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)

The development and deployment of AVs offers the potential to increase equity by providing mobility-as-a-service and enable tremendous societal benefits by improving roadway safety through the reduction in frequency and severity of automobile crashes and increasing access to transportation for all people, including people with disabilities, older adults, and others who cannot currently drive themselves. AVs can significantly enhance the safety and efficiency of goods movement, create jobs, and help better meet consumer demand while promoting innovation and growth across various sectors of the economy. AVs may likewise, if deployed strategically, mitigate other inefficiencies of current motor vehicle use, such as congestion. Learn more here.

Procurement

TechNet seeks to promote and support innovation, transparency, competition, cost effectiveness, and technology neutrality in technology procurement processes. Learn more here.

Taxation

TechNet supports tax policies that promote innovation and foster an economic climate that enables companies to compete, thrive, invest, and expand in the United States and around the globe. Learn more here.

Smart Infrastructure

TechNet will advocate to ensure that infrastructure policies, such as zoning and building codes, are future-proofed. In addition, infrastructure policies should support energy efficiency, renewable energy, transportation electrification, and public-private partnerships designed to facilitate infrastructure improvements. Learn more here.

Read TechNet’s 2024 State Policy Principles here.