Gov performance

Communities looking to leverage American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for broadband or other local infrastructure need to act soon or risk losing access to a once-in-a-generation funding resource. Most ARPA recipients seem well aware of the deadline, but data suggests more than a few communities could drop the ball. The Treasury Department tracks allotted ARPA awards and projected budget plans via a massive database.

On July 18, 2024, Members of the House of Representatives wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to call her attention to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a recent Supreme Court decision that precludes courts from deferring to agency interpretations when the statutes are ambiguous. [See a similar letter from the Senate's Post-Chevron Working Group.] In its decision, the Court explicitly overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v.

I write to request a detailed update on the major administrative delays in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that have resulted from unlawful red tape imposed by your agency [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration]. Despite the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) three-year-old clear statutory mandate to bring the internet to the unserved, your agency has failed to connect a single American. What NTIA has done with the money so far is create a nearly billion-dollar slush fund to “administer” the program. Speci

On August 7, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released the third funding report showing fiscal year (FY) 2022 data reported by 13 agencies across 70 programs making investments in broadband.

This is the third Federal Broadband Funding Report produced by NTIA, showing fiscal year (FY) 2022 data reported by 12 agencies across 70 programs making investments in broadband. This is the first Federal Broadband Funding Report to highlight trends across three fiscal years of data collected. For the first time, this report not only will release a dashboard of major findings but will also include a comprehensive view of broadband investment data reported across the last three data collections—reflecting broadband investments from FY 2020 to 2022.

On June 26, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded the Nevada Governor's Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT) over $9 million to implement the state's Digital Equity Plan, the first state to receive funding under the Digital Equity Capacity Grant program.

Net neutrality is officially on hold after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule from taking effect. The court granted a stay, extending an earlier temporary pause. This time, net neutrality will be blocked until the court says otherwise after reviewing the petitions from broadband providers who opposed the rule.

Seven recommendations to allow the Department of Commerce to assist the next President in implementing a bold agenda to deliver economic prosperity and strong national security, including: 

Sens John Thune (R-SD), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve federal agencies’ review and processing of broadband permits and allow service to be more quickly deployed to unserved communities.

After the Fifth Circuit ruled, 9-7, that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional as currently administered, we've seen the following responses.