The Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) is seeking information from broadband providers who currently offer service to locations eligible for the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program. This information will help the CBO ensure that BEAD funding is directed to unserved and underserved areas. This notice outlines the process for demonstrating existing service and claiming locations as served, which may preclude those locations from receiving BEAD funding. For a location to be eligible for this process, it must meet both of the following criteria:

• Be included on the Colorado BEAD-eligible Location List.
• Have qualifying broadband service reported in the current version (Version 5) of the Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Map.

The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the case of FCC v. Consumers’ Research—a case regarding the Universal Service Fund—for Wednesday morning, March 26. The court will decide on a 2024 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the Commission’s current universal service fund (USF) is unconstitutional. The Fifth Circuit’s decision conflicts with decisions by the Sixth and 11^th Circuits. The key question in the case, according to a Supreme Court summary, is “whether Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine by authorizing the Commission to determine … the amount that providers must contribute to the fund.” In the weeks since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Universal Service Fund case on November 22, interested parties have been filing friend-of-the court briefs. “There is no violation of the private nondelegation doctrine where the private entity functions subordinate to an agency, and the agency has authority and surveillance over the entity,” according to a joint brief by NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, and the Competitive Carriers Association.

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Geoffrey Starks issued remarks following reports that Chairman Carr has opened an investigation into the equal employment opportunity practices of Comcast and NBCUniversal. "Then-Commissioner Carr blasted the prior administration for acting in a way that ‘gives the FCC a nearly limitless power to veto private sector decisions,’" Starks said. "From what I know, this enforcement action is out of our lane and out of our reach. I have asked for a briefing to understand the Enforcement Bureau’s theory of the case, the authority relied upon, and any prior precedent. This action gives me grave concern."

Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, delivered opening remarks at the full committee hearing on the First Amendment and censorship. He appealed to Chairman Jim Jordan's (R-OH-4) passion for the First Amendment, and implored him to ensure that freedom of speech continues to apply to all speech. "When we together introduced our Free Flow of Information Act, you said “[a]ll rights protected in the First Amendment need to be defended.” We had real success. Let’s work together again to end the attacks on news organizations, to demand transparency from the Administration and to allow every American to exercise his or her free speech without being intimidated, harassed, or prosecuted."

President Trump should press forward with his campaign promises to avoid unpopular foreign commitments, insist that allied countries stop “free riding” off of the United States, supercharge America’s manufacturing might, and ensure that the world plays by America’s rules, not China’s. Tech power—AI, biotech, quantum, drones, and more—is fundamentally transforming our economy, security, and the very nature of global power. The Trump administration can seize on the intersection of the president’s promises and the opportunities for peace, freedom, and prosperity that the dynamic technological revolution presents. 

[Sen Todd Young (R-IN) is the senior U.S. senator representing the state of Indiana and a member of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation]