State

New federal programs and resources through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  provide an unprecedented opportunity to build on the existing infrastructure and expertise of our nation’s libraries to inform state digital equity plans and accelerate broadband adoption and skills building for all nationwide. Libraries provide:

The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) was established by Act 71 (2021), legislation relating to accelerated community broadband deployment, to coordinate, facilitate, support, and accelerate the development and implementation of universal community broadband solutions. The board develops policies and programs to accelerate community efforts that advance the state’s goal of achieving universal access to reliable, high-quality, affordable, fixed broadband achieving speeds of at least 100 Mbps symmetrical. On October 26, the U.S.

For decades, municipal broadband operations have been subject to a minefield of restrictions and barriers designed to make the prospect of establishing or maintaining a community broadband network costly, difficult, and unsustainable. There are currently 17 states in total that have restrictive legislation against municipal broadband networks in the US.

Idaho Commerce hired Ramón S. Hobdey-Sánchez as the state’s new Broadband Program Manager. For over seven years, Ramón worked at the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) as a project manager in the Office of Governmental Affairs. His work at ITD has included consistent interactions with the public, local officials, Idaho Legislators, and the Governor’s Office.

The Idaho Broadband Advisory Board is requesting proposals from eligible entities on broadband infrastructure needs across the state of Idaho. This information will be submitted in the form of a broadband infrastructure or planning project proposal. Eligible entities include:

According to Dr. Karen Mossberger—a professor in the school of public affairs and director of the Center on Technology, Data and Society at Arizona State University—prosperity and income increases correlate with the number of broadband subscriptions in an area, whether it’s rural, urban, or suburban, across all demographics. Further still, “Broadband is important for participation in society,” said Mossberger. “It’s important for economic development as well as individual opportunities.

The US Department of the Treasury approved over $90 million for broadband projects in the state of Vermont under the American Rescue Plan’s (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF). Vermont will use its funding to connect nearly 14,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet. The funding advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to connecting every American household to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. The 13,818 households and businesses represent 22% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access.

The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program has $42.5 billion available to cover some of the costs of bringing broadband to unserved and underserved rural areas. States will administer the program but must first have a plan approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and, as new research from BroadbandNow shows, some states face an important hurdle as they prepare their plans—a hurdle that involves anti-municipal broadband laws.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has made its largest award of state broadband funds to local governments to date by providing $14 million in broadband technical assistance grants to 28 local governments to support efforts to close the digital divide. These are in addition to grants given earlier in October 2022.

California's proposed middle-mile fiber-based network could provide access to regional broadband providers and Tribes at capacity and speeds that will allow networks to scale to accommodate the needs of an entire community. The route prioritizes areas with no access to the global Internet or slow and ineffective connections, which leaves many households and community anchor institutions at a severe disadvantage – unable to take advantage of broadband-enabled services such as telehealth, remote work, and remote educational environments. A major goal of this project is to connect all Tribes i