Two more states — Georgia and Wisconsin — have joined the chorus of those hoping the U.S. Department of Commerce will maintain the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program as-is.
The two letters were addressed to Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The far much more substantial one came from Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. The second paragraph described what could be called a “gotcha”-type situation. Evers said the Wisconsin legislature did not approve his administration’s request for $750 million in broadband funding to expand high-speed internet because it expected to receive BEAD investments. Thus, failure to receive those funds would mean that there would be no funding.
“NTIA should not make any changes that will slow down our states’ already-approved program plans and the tremendous progress we have made in implementing those plans,” the letter reads in bold.
“In BEAD, Congress created a program that gave states the power to create state-specific programs to suit our needs. NTIA must continue to allow states to make the choices that will best allow Wisconsinite’s homes and businesses to get online quickly. Any changes to the BEAD program should be options, not mandates, and any waivers granted by NTIA should be available to every State.
“New mandates to drastically alter our state’s BEAD plan will likely slow down our progress, harming the households and businesses that are still awaiting connection.” The letter from Georgia is from U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff. It is five short paragraphs and mostly is background. The fifth paragraph asks Lutnick to “respond within fourteen days confirming you have lifted your suspension of the BEAD program.”
Wisconsin got $1.056 billion and Georgia got $1.307 billion in BEAD funding. The list of messages asking that BEAD be maintained is growing. It includes those from Illinois (Travis McGlasson, the Chairman of the Board of The Illinois Waterway Ports Commission, to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin) and to Lutnick from Nevada (from Sky Fiber
Internet), West Virginia (from Senator Shelly Capito), a coalition of 28 states, and Minnesota (from Bree Maki of the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development).
