Universal Service Fund

A years-long headache for the Park Hill (Kansas City, MO) School District has finally come to a satisfying resolution that could benefit schools and libraries across the US. Since Feb 2018, Park Hill has wrestled with the federal government to obtain E-rate funding for a fiber project connecting several of its schools. On April 27, the Federal Communications Commission finally granted Park Hill’s E-rate funding request in a decision that also sets a good precedent for the larger community of E-rate applicants.

If the coronavirus pandemic has taught the technology and communications policy world anything, it is that policymakers have utterly failed to meet the mission of the National Broadband Plan. Although the National Broadband Plan provided a road map and initially tracked progress, we have seen a relatively nonpartisan tech policy space abandon consensus views on the technicalities of the network and the importance of universal service principles.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) have established computer matching program with the State of Nevada, Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Welfare and Supportive Services (DWSS). The purpose of this matching program is to verify the eligibility of applicants to and subscribers of the Lifeline program. Written comments are due on or before June 12, 2020.

House Democratic leadership unveiled a $3 trillion relief package, the HEROES Act, that includes provisions to connect people to broadband. The legislation:

Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives unveiled the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, a new  COVID-19 stimulus bill that includes, among other things, billions in broadband benefit programs.

Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a bipartisan group of senators to urge the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives to include $2 billion in the next coronavirus relief package to help health care providers expand telehealth services by improving their access to broadband. The senators are calling for $2 billion in additional funding to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program, the only federal program that supports broadband deployment at urban and rural health care provider locations.

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) sent a stinging letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai detailing the agency’s chronic failures to correctly map and support New York households with limited broadband access.

Forty-six senators introduced the Emergency Educational Connections Act, legislation aimed at ensuring all K-12 students have adequate home internet connectivity and devices during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill is the Senate companion to legislation recently introduced by Rep Grace Meng (NY-06), but makes one important change: increasing the appropriation from $2 billion to $4 billion.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance (SECA), and Funds for Learning (FFL) have developed a proposal for Congress to provide one-time funding so that school students, teachers, and library patrons can obtain broadband at home, end-user devices (such as laptops and tablets), and cybersecurit

On May 9, 2020, USAC issued the first wave of Funding Year (FY) 2020 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs). FY2020 Wave 1 included almost $680.7 million in funding commitments, and funding decisions on over 53% of the 38,207 applications that were received on or before the close of the FY2020 application filing window on April 29, 2020. Funds for Learning notes that the wave came only ten days after the close of the filing window, and was a record-setting funding wave by all accounts: