The key for states to unlock their portion of the $42.5 billion in federal BEAD funds is the submission and approval of their Five Year Action Plans and Final Proposal. The infrastructure law requires states to first file an action plan, and then prepare more detailed Initial Proposals, allowing residents and stakeholders to submit public comments.

So far, 14 states have filed their Five Year Action Plans with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Treasury Department agency in charge of allocating the funds to each state and U.S. territory. According to the NTIA’s website, Maine, Louisiana, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Vermont have all filed their draft Five Year Action Plans.

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The states that are now in the process of completing their Initial Proposals include: Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

Today, we will look at two states (Maine and Louisiana) and follow up with the others as we are getting a clearer picture of how each state intends to put this historic infusion of federal funds to use.

Maine

This week we are giving you a double dose of our new Building For Digital Equity podcast. In Episode 4, our research associate Emma Gautier interviews Kim Ilinon and Ella Silvas, two Interactive Media Design students from the University of Washington-Bothell.

Kim and Ella, who both gave lightning round presentations at Net Inclusion 2023 in San Antonio last month, discuss how they got into digital equity from a design background and what they have learned about who is doing digital equity work in Washington state.

You can watch their 3 minute lightning talk here:

And you can listen to the 12-minute long B4DE podcast with Kim and Ella here:

Also available is Episode 5 of the B4DE podcast, which features Susan Corbett, Executive Director of the National Digital Equity Center, an organization that has long been involved in policy around Internet access and digital equity both in Maine and across the United States.

ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Director Christopher Mitchell discusses with Susan how she got started doing digital equity work in 2005 as the owner of a small ISP in rural Maine. They also explore how the National Digital Equity Center uses a database and surveys to track the progress of their programs to ensure they are effective, having launched initiatives around distributed devices, skill building, and now involved with the Maine Digital Equity Plan.

That episode is 14 minutes long, which you can tune into here:

Written by Christine Parker

See the interactive resource, United State(s) of Broadband Map, here. Updated on June 1, 2022.

View and download an HTML version of the map here. To view, open it in any web browser.

Updates can be shared with Christine Parker at [email protected].

*If at any point the HTML file stops working, it's because the map has been updated. Just return to this story or that dropbox folder and redownload the file at the link above.

Tens of billions of dollars in federal funding are poised for new broadband infrastructure deployment over the next five years. But a crucial step in allocating funds from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program - for states and local governments - lies in knowing where fast, affordable, reliable broadband access currently is, so that they know where to drive new investment. The FCC’s historical and repeated failure to put together an accurate national broadband map threatens to significantly hold up the process.

In this episode of the Connect This! Show, co-hosts Christopher Mitchell and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) are joined by guests Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) and Peggy Schaffer (Connect Maine) to talk about the latest in state spending, and other broadband news.

Subscribe to the show using this feed on YouTube Live or here on Facebook Live, on find it on the Connect This! page.

Email us [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Watch here on YouTube Live, here on Facebook live, or below.

In years past, states have implemented preemptive laws that make it more difficult or impossible for communities to build their own Internet networks. 

These state barriers were often enacted at the behest of large telecom monopolies to limit competition, and include everything from outright bans on municipal broadband networks to oppressive restrictions and requirements which create legal uncertainty for communities attempting to offer telecommunications and Internet services, including via partnerships.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, there were 19 states maintaining significant restrictions on municipal networks. Today, the number of states upholding these barriers has been reduced to 17. The pandemic served as a turning point in the fight for local authority, and in the past year, Arkansas and Washington adopted legislation significantly rolling back legislative barriers on publicly owned broadband networks. 

In February of 2021, both chambers of the Republican-dominated Arkansas State Legislature voted unanimously to send Senate Bill 74 to State Governor Asa Hutchinson, who signed the bill into law. The legislation grants government entities the authority to provide broadband services and expands the financing options available to municipalities to fund municipal broadband projects.

In May of 2021, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed two bills expanding municipal authority to provide retail Internet services to end-users, House Bill 1336 and Senate Bill 5383. Both bills reduce barriers to municipal networks, but House Bill 1336, which completely removes all previously-held restrictions on public broadband in the state of Washington, is expected to take legal precedence.

The Connect This! show has officially returned, kicking off an unofficial Season 2 with better production value, worse jokes, and the same lively conversation and hot takes we've all become accustomed to. 

On the latest episode, co-hosts Christopher and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) are joined by Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) to catch up after a frenzied summer. With all of the federal, state, and local broadband infrastructure funding programs and projects announced over the last three months, the panel breaks down what they've been seeing across the country. 

During the course of the conversation, they cover what's been going on with the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (including ISPs turning funds back in and LTD failing to get its ETC status), more supply chain constraints, how communities can plan for current and future funding, and incumbents continuing to lock up MDUs.

Subscribe to the show using this feed, or visit ConnectThisShow.com

Email us [email protected] with feedback, ideas for the show, or your pictures of weird wireless infrastructure to stump Travis.

Watch here, or below.