State

The Aloha State was not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic's stay-at-home/work-from-home orders. The immediate halt to most in-person interaction resulted in disruptions to business, education, healthcare, the provision of other essential services, and social functions—demonstrating Hawaiʻi’s vulnerabilities, which were exacerbated by inadequate digital infrastructure. As a result, providing equitable access to broadband, improving digital literacy, and effectively applying digital tools in essential sectors are now among the state’s most pressing challenges.

Norman Vasquez often has to choose between buying soap or calling his family while serving time at Colorado’s Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility. Vasquez was one of 15 people who urged Colorado lawmakers to pass a bill that would make phone calls free to people incarcerated in state prisons and their families. The approximately 17,000 people incarcerated in the Colorado Department of Corrections pay 8 cents a minute for phone calls—or $4.80 for an hour, according to data collected by the state.

The Maine Connectivity Authority is launching a new program to provide targeted support to Broadband Utility Districts (BUDs) in Maine. Broadband Utility Districts are community-based organizations formed to build and operate broadband networks to increase access to high-speed internet. The utility district ownership model is a critical part of helping enable regional scale impact resulting in improved connectivity and digital equity in Maine. The districts often partner with service providers to operate the network, while the communities in the districts own the internet infrastructure.

Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) signed the bipartisan Senate Bill 23-183 (SB23-183), removing the biggest barrier to providing all Coloradans with access to high-speed broadband and allowing the state to capitalize on upcoming federal broadband funding for capital projects and digital adoption programs. SB23-183 revises a law established in 2005, SB05-152, which prohibited most uses of municipal or county money for infrastructure to improve local broadband service without obtaining voter approval to opt-out.

In order to visit some websites, internet users Louisiana have to provide proof that they were at least 18. That’s because Louisiana lawmakers had passed legislation last year requiring publishers of online material that could be “harmful to minors” to verify that their users were adults.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) awarded $139,929.92 in funding from the Universal Service Fund Lifeline Outreach Grant Program to two recipients. The grants were awarded to entities that will assist low-income customers in obtaining affordable access to telecommunications services through the Lifeline program. Project 211 Get Connected was awarded $89,576.92, and the Indianhead Community Action Agency (ICAA) Lifeline Outreach Program was awarded $50,353.00.

The Department of the Treasury approved $115.5 million for high-speed internet projects in Hawaii under the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund. The state will invest $101.7 million of the award in the Hawaii Subsea Middle Mile Program designed to address the unique subsea cable infrastructure that’s needed to provide connectivity between the islands to ensure they have reliable, high-speed internet access.

Focus Broadband has completed the final stages of a project in Brunswick County (NC). Residents and businesses in the communities of Northwest and Sandy Creek now can access gigabit speed service. Focus Broadband was awarded $1.4 million to provide high-speed Internet to more than 1,000 addresses in Brunswick County in North Carolina’s special supplementary round of the Growing Rural Economies through Access to Technology (GREAT) program.

Fourteen Maine counties and 73 communities will benefit from $20 million in grant funding from the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) as part of its Reach Me Line Extension Program that will expand reliable, fast and affordable internet.