On April 22, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration officially delayed the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program in a notice attributed to the “Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information” (a position currently held by an acting official). "In anticipation of forthcoming programmatic changes and to ensure States and Territories have sufficient time to implement them, [NTIA]...provides notice of a programmatic waiver...granting a ninety (90) day extension to all Eligible Entities." In short, the Trump administration is going to change BEAD’s rules. And NTIA is allowing states 90 days to wait to see what those changes are. Far from accelerating broadband deployments in rural areas, this move is likely to slow down BEAD even more—just as some states are ready to complete the work and connect U.S. households to fast, affordable, reliable broadband. This is the latest BEAD delay from the Trump Administration, but it certainly won’t be the last. Since President Trump took office, no states have won approval for their BEAD plans, and even states that have completed their planning work—like West Virginia—have pulled back to wait for NTIA’s expected changes. There’s no telling for sure how long it will take for states to adjust to the Administration’s new BEAD rules, but it could easily delay broadband deployments another year or two. That’s not acceleration, that’s a slowdown of a program that Republican lawmakers have complained has rolled out too slowly.

Eric Frederick joined the state of Michigan to lead the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office in July 2022 after spending 12 years at a non-profit that was trying to expand broadband across the country. Since then, the office has expanded and now has two verticals—the digital equity team and the infrastructure data team. Frederick explained, “As we work with solving the digital divide, we know that just because the infrastructure is there doesn’t mean folks are able to use it and leverage it to improve their quality of life, so we need to make sure we’re addressing digital equity, at the same time.”

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exploded in popularity in recent years, altering the technological landscape worldwide. To try and understand how these seismic shifts will impact communications systems in the United States, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessed the environmental and human effects of generative AI. GAO highlights five AI risks and challenges that could result in substantial human effects. GAO also describes some common mitigation techniques used by commercial AI developers. GAO identifies policy options Congress, federal agencies, state and local governments, academic and research institutions, and industry should consider to enhance the benefits and address the risks and challenges of generative AI. In addition, policymakers could choose to maintain the status quo, whereby they would not take additional action beyond current efforts.

It is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals. Given the limited enforcement resources of executive departments and agencies (agencies), the unlawfulness of disparate-impact liability, and the policy of this order, all agencies shall deprioritize enforcement of all statutes and regulations to the extent they include disparate-impact liability. Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General, in coordination with the heads of all other agencies, shall report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy:
(i)   all existing regulations, guidance, rules, or orders that impose disparate-impact liability or similar requirements, and detail agency steps for their amendment or repeal, as appropriate under applicable law; and
(ii)  other laws or decisions, including at the State level, that impose disparate-impact liability and any appropriate measures to address any constitutional or other legal infirmities.