See Which Hawaiʻi Agencies Have Been Hit Hardest By Trump Funding Cuts

A $6 million grant through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration had been intended to help expand broadband access in rural and underserved communities, extend free public Wi-Fi and improve access to remote learning and telehealth services. Most of that money would have been distributed directly to the counties to run community programs, said Chung Chang, strategic broadband coordinator at the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce cites the federal provision that enables grants to be terminated but adds that  President Trump had determined that the Digital Equity Capacity Program is unconstitutional. It also said grants issued in relation to the program “were created with, and administered using, impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences.” This meshes with Trump’s promise to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The website for the federal program has vanished. The Trump administration is in court fighting to keep many of the cuts. The state won’t have to return funds because it hadn’t received them yet, said Mark Anderson, Hawaiʻi's administrator of federal grants. Most federal grants don’t provide money upfront but are authorized for programs, which can obtain reimbursement for expenditures. In this case, the state lost access to the approved $6 million. Hawaiʻi’s Office of Federal Awards Management expected more significant cuts in federal funding and was closely monitoring the situation, Anderson said. The state will rely on data from a federal grant analysis service based in Washington (DC), the Federal Funds Information for States. FFIS tracks and analyzes federal grants and was founded by Kansas federal lawmaker Vic Miller with support from the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures.