Thousands of bills are introduced in Congress every year.   Only a handful have a chance of becoming law.   What makes one bill more likely to pass than another?   Many things:   whether the sponsors are from the right Committees of jurisdiction; whether the language has made it through the Committee hearing and review process; whether the issue has ripened to the point of needing legislative remediation; whether the issue might be taken care of in another place, such as the courts or in the federal agencies – all of these variables and more factor into whether a bill has a serious chance of passage.   Here are a few bills we think are going to change policies on technology and innovation and shape industries during the 111^th Congress:

S. 773 and S. 778

Cyberspace Security Act of 2009

• S. 773 originally was introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Rockefeller April 1^st, 2009
• Additional legislation was drafted in the Senate Homeland Security Committee
• Substitute Amendment for S. 773 was made public March 2010. The combined S. 773 and S. 778 are billed as the comprehensive Rockefeller-Snowe cybersecurity legislation
• Bills would create a Senate-confirmed National Cybersecurity Advisor and raise the priority of cybersecurity throughout the federal government by promoting research and development of innovative cybersecurity solutions in partnership with private sector
• Significant impact on SmartGrid technology and privacy policies

S. 515

Patent Reform Act of 2009

• Introduced by Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and reported out of Committee in Spring 2009; is Committee's third recent attempt to update the current patent system
• After input from pharmaceutical and technology companies, Senator Leahy made public proposed new language in March 2010
• Many tech companies do not support the new proposal, arguing that damage award system needs further reform in order for innovation to thrive
• As Chairman Leahy seeks floor time for a vote in the Senate on his new language, focus shifts to the House Judiciary Committee where proposal will be taken up

H.R. 3125

Radio Spectrum Inventory Act

• Creates a process for surveying and mapping use of the nation's spectrum infrastructure by federal and non-federal users
• Significant impact on government's ability to free spectrum for broadband deployment and innovation; integral to Federal Communication Commission's National Broadband Plan released March 2010
• Obama administration requested changes to the original bill to protect federal users of spectrum when reporting of spectrum use data would be harmful to national security
• Chairman's substitute bill passed full House Energy and Commerce Committee during March 10^th, 2010 markup