Federal

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, which help the Department assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public’s reporting burden.

While Minnesota will be receiving $652 million from the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to help fund broadband access projects across the state, many internet service providers might not opt-in over frustrations with the program. “My members are telling me they’re not going to participate,” said Brent Christensen, president and CEO of Minnesota Telecom Alliance. “The way that BEAD is structured.

Elon Musk, named by Donald Trump to co-lead a commission aimed at reducing the size of the federal government, is poised to undermine funding for rural broadband services to benefit his satellite internet services company, Starlink. Musk has long been a critic of the Biden administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (Bead) Program, which provides $42.45bn through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to expand high-speed internet access in rural communities.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announced that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) census block groups (CBG) are now eligible for other funding programs.

President-elect Trump indicates that he would like to exercise more control over the Federal Communications Commission and questions the constitutionality of independent agencies, generally. He has expressed a desire to end the independence of agencies such as the FCC and Federal Trade Commission.

Real property, equipment, and intangible property, that are acquired or improved with a Federal award must be held in trust by the non-Federal entity as trustee for the beneficiaries of the project or program under which the property was acquired or improved. This trust relationship exists throughout the duration of the property’s estimated useful life, as determined by the Grants Officer in consultation with the Program Office, during which time the Federal Government retains an undivided, equitable reversionary interest in the property.

States are itching for action on broadband access. But as they wait for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment money to flow—and policy changes under Trump—New Mexico wants to take matters into its own hands. New Mexico’s broadband office requested $70 million in state funds to help connect 95,000 locations with satellite broadband in the next two years.

The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), home to the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI), is directed under state law to operate a broadband grant program consistent with the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. The Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) Program is designed to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure to locations currently without 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps) service.

Prior to the election on November 5th, I wrote about Arizona’s Congressional races and the candidates’ positions and records on broadband issues. In the House, I highlighted two races: the 1st and 6th Districts. In both of those races, the Republican candidate prevailed, riding the wave of support for Donald Trump. In Arizona’s highly publicized Senate race, however, Democrat Ruben Gallego was able to find success despite Trump carrying the state in the presidential race.

The Federal Communications Commission's Space Bureau granted the application of Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX) to construct, deploy, and operate a constellation of second generation non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed-satellite service (FSS) satellites, known as its Gen2 Starlink constellation.