State

The Federal Communications Commission appointed Burt Cohen, Staff Attorney and Broadband Coordinator for the State of Connecticut, Office of Consumer Counsel, to serve as the State Consumer Advocate representative on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. This appointment fills the position recently vacated by the William “Bill” Vallee of the Connecticut State Office of Consumer Counsel. 

It has been just over a year since the Digital Equity Act (DEA) was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the $2.75 billion it provides is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to design systems that will enable true digital equity. Congress and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration outlined specifics for states to include in their digital equity plans.

Durham, North Carolina, is a thriving digital equity ecosystem supported by a network of community anchor institutions working to close the digital divide.

Massachusetts officials revealed an effort to close last mile broadband gaps in 53 un- and underserved towns in the western half of the state is nearly complete after seven years of work. Launched in 2016, the state’s Last Mile Program offered grant funding to support co-investment in broadband network rollouts to cover 44 unserved towns in western and central Massachusetts and nine communities only partially served by cable. Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA) said service is now available in all 53 last-mile towns.

Over the years, Iowa's demand for broadband infrastructure far outstripped the funding the state has been willing to supply. But the state is allocating millions in federal funding to help it reach its broadband goals. The latest funding comes from the U.S. Treasury's Capital Projects Fund.

On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Treasury approved Missouri’s plan to dedicate all of its Capital Projects Fund allocation to extend the reach of broadband in the state. Agriculture is Missouri’s leading economic driver. Over 95,000 farms employ nearly 400,000 people, export more than $2.5 billion across the globe, and make economic contributions to the state of $88.4 billion. Missouri is second in the number of farms in the United States and ranks in the top 10 nationally for the production of eleven different agricultural products.

The Department of Treasury approved broadband projects in an additional six states under the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Utah. Together, these states will use their funding to connect more than 180,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Hawaii received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative.

Gov Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) announced a state partnership with national non-profit EducationSuperHighway to develop programs and implement best practices to address broadband affordability in the state. An estimated 214,760 Arkansas’ households have access to a home broadband connection but are offline because they can't afford to connect. This broadband affordability gap is the number one cause of the nation’s digital divide, keeps 18 million U.S.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Statewide Broadband Plan focuses on four challenge areas and opportunities for universal broadband access in the state: broadband service infrastructure and availability; digital equity and affordability; device and technology access; and digital literacy and technical support. The state's broadband plan prioritizes these objectives: