States to DC: "No More BEAD Delays"
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has indicated he’ll make fundamental changes to the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. These changes, such as giving a stronger preference for satellite internet, could force states to restart their broadband grant programs.
On April 3, a group of 115 bipartisan state legislators from 28 states sent Secretary Lutnick a letter requesting that any BEAD changes be optional rather than mandatory. Mandatory changes could upend the rules of state broadband programs, many of which are nearing completion, and delay deployment by a year or more. States, they argue, should have final say over state programs. Read the full letter here.
Many of the leaders signed on are involved with the NewDEAL Forum’s Broadband Task Force and are associated with our sister organization, The NewDEAL, including NewDEAL Forum Broadband co-chair Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (NC); Rep. Jeremy Gray (AL); Sen. Scott Kawasaki (AK); Sen. Clarke Tucker (AR); Sen. Josh Becker (CA); Sen. Bob Duff (CT); Rep. Kate Farrar (CT); Rep. Tram T. Nguyen (MA); Sen. Pavel M. Payano (MA); Sen. Sam Singh (MI); Asm. Sandra Jauregui (NV); Sen. Josh Boschee (ND); and Sen. Marko Liias (WA).
