Michigan has become the latest state to start a new round of BEAD application submissions under NTIA's revised rules, known as the "Benefit of the Bargain" round (see 2507030010). The Office of Labor and Economic Opportunity said Friday that it's accepting new and modified registrations from interested ISPs until July 24 at 4 p.m. ET. Previously submitted applications must be updated to meet NTIA's new guidance. "Specific opening and closing dates and times for the project application window will be announced as soon as possible," the office said.
With NTIA removing fiber priority and deleting various requirements from its June 6 revised BEAD program requirements, the effects on ISPs' participation in the program are unclear. BEAD and broadband experts told us that a major focus of states is trying to ensure that previously active providers continue their participation under the program's new rules, which were announced a month ago (see 2506060052).
NTIA's new BEAD guidance effectively created an "incentive" for states to spend as much of their allocated funding as possible on connections, "regardless of cost-effectiveness, as long as they meet minimal criteria," wrote Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten and Gregory Rosston, Stanford University's public policy program director, in a blog Tuesday. Calling the effort "pointless," Wallsten and Rosston said NTIA made it "possible for states to spend the money more efficiently" but then "removed incentives for them to try." They called on NTIA to let states "keep savings for other broadband priorities or impose a cap on spending per location."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
California broadband advocates and industry clashed over how the state should treat fixed wireless and other non-fiber technologies in its BEAD plan, as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) races to finalize a revised proposal by Sept. 4. In reply comments posted Wednesday (docket 23-02-016), commenters disagreed on whether fixed wireless can serve as a viable long-term solution for bridging the digital divide.
Former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Wednesday that while he has long been a critic of the USF, he was relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court last week didn’t overturn the program (see 2506270054). Cutting off support that USF recipients need would be “a terrible outcome,” O’Rielly said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.
Now with a Republican majority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday laid out policy priorities that range from accelerating and easing broadband infrastructure deployment to tackling blue-collar workforce issues.
The Colorado Broadband Office will open its new application window for BEAD proposals on July 7, the office said Monday. The agency released revised guidance to meet NTIA's new program rules (see 2506180077). The new BEAD-eligible locations will be available "later this week," the agency said. Citing the state's "topography, tree cover, and population density factors," the office said it included technical questions to help it determine whether an applicant can meet their priority project definition, which includes reliability and scalability. Any project that doesn't include service speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps will be rejected. "Applicants should not indiscriminately select" all broadband serviceable locations in a large number of project areas for a priority project if they can't support the project with "reliable broadband speeds, latency, and scalability," the guidance said.
The Senate narrowly passed an amended version Tuesday of the HR-1 budget reconciliation package, formerly named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with a proposal for an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline but without a controversial Commerce Committee proposal for a voluntary freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules. The chamber voted 99-1 to strip out that language after a deal between Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (see 2506300072), collapsed Monday night.
The Senate was still slogging through a vote-a-rama Monday afternoon of mostly Democratic amendments -- including a proposal for an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline (see 2506060029) -- to the chamber’s revised reconciliation package, which will supersede the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). Senate Republicans appeared closer to retaining a modified proposal for a voluntary freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules after Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas struck a deal with Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a leading GOP critic of the plan, to shorten the pause’s timeline. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats continued insisting the AI proposal threatened states’ eligibility for funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program.