State

Ahead of an important April 30 deadline, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is encouraging Minnesotans to apply for its Line Extension Program to connect homes and businesses to high-speed broadband. The DEED Office of Broadband Development's Line Extension Program connects internet service providers to residents and businesses that lack high-speed broadband.

History always renders a powerful and positive verdict for any group that understands that there are some things that cannot be allowed to divide a nation. And then acts to close that divide. I don’t want claim that the achieving universal broadband connectivity has the same moral imperative as ending slavery or drastically reducing poverty. But it is no small thing. And sometimes things that are not front-page news, overtime have enormous impacts.

States must be the arbiter of coverage disputes for the allocation of coming federal funds, said broadband experts. The $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program directs states to design their own grant programs. To successfully implement these state grant programs, states must “be the source of truth for challenges,” said Peggy Schaffer of mapping software company VETRO. It is the responsibility of states to determine truth by sifting through many sources of coverage claims, said Schaffer.

State and federal government officials said that state laws restricting municipal broadband deployments aren’t expected to delay the distribution of funding from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. BEAD support is expected to be divvied up among all 50 states in the coming months, but, as BroadbandNow noted, rules for BEAD stipulate that states with laws that either restrict or prohibit municipal broadband must disclose whether or not they plan to waive such laws.

Service providers in the state of Washington are concerned about legislation pending in the state’s House of Representatives.

Montana lawmakers approved a first-of-its-kind bill to ban TikTok across the state, setting the stage for future court battles that could determine the fate in the US of the popular, Chinese-owned social media app. The Montana House voted 54-43 to send the bill to Gov. Greg Gianforte’s (R-MT) desk. If signed into law, the ban would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024 and would bar app stores from offering TikTok within the state. It would fine any entity violating this law $10,000 per violation.

Business Oregon announces its contract with Columbia Telecommunications Corporation, dba CTC Technology, and Energy, as the planning consultant for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and Digital Equity (DE) programs for the Oregon Broadband Office (OBO). Together, CTC and OBO staff, with input from the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council and stakeholders, will develop plans to make the internet accessible, affordable, and reliable via high-speed broadband for all Oregonians. This is a critical moment in the history of telecommunications in the state of Oregon.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) awarded grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ‘Internet for All’ Initiative, including the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Workforce Planning Program and Digital Equity Outreach Program.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) has signed a sweeping bill imposing a minimum age limit for social media usage, in the latest example of states taking more aggressive steps intended to protect teens online. The legislation appeared to contain vast loopholes and exemptions benefiting companies that lobbied on the bill and raising questions about how much of the industry it truly covers. The legislation, known as the Social Media Safety Act and taking effect in September 2023, is aimed at giving parents more control over their kids’ social media usage, according to lawmakers.

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. Although no states have managed to remove their restrictions in 2022, 2023 could be the year that things begin to change for states that have historically been opposed to allowing for a public option.