Why states want the feds to 'get out of the way' of BEAD

In early April, a group of over 100 bipartisan legislators representing 28 states signed a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warning against making changes to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program that will delay and undermine states' existing plans. The letter, organized by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and State Connections, a broadband working group for state legislators, co-led by Rep Louis Riggs (R-MO-5), came in response to the Commerce Department's ongoing "rigorous review" of the BEAD program, which may see the rules change in a way that requires states to re-do their BEAD plans, and to potentially spend more of their BEAD money on alternative technologies like Starlink. While several states are pushing back and proceeding with their BEAD bidding, one state, West Virginia, has said it will pause to review its own plan to align it with the tech-neutral approach and other changes preferred by the current administration. That comes after the state spent years creating a plan that would achieve 100 percent fiber coverage with its available BEAD funds. "So the only way they can go now is backwards. All they can do is go from full fiber coverage—in West Virginia, too, where there are mountains, there are trees, there are radio-silent zones where satellite just will not work. So they have this perfect solution: affordable, fast, scalable, future-proof service to every household that doesn't have it," said Drew Garner, Director of Policy Engagement at Benton. "What a tragedy to have achieved that unbelievable result and to walk away from it."