Presentation to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors- Slides
Mendocino County Digital Infrastructure Projects
Emergency Broadband Benefit Program
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help households struggling to pay for internet service during the pandemic. This new benefit will connect eligible households to jobs, critical healthcare services, and virtual classrooms.
Check out the Broadband Benefit Consumer FAQ for more information about the benefit and please continue to check this page for program updates.
From our Facebook page:
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County updated their status.
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
"The data presented in this post represent the assessments of county-level officials, thus offering another layer on the broadband data cake that already includes data from the FCC, independent third parties (like LightBox and Geo Partners), and crowdsourced data." "Bad data already impacted Phase I of the FCC’s Rural Digital
Counties: The Missing Pieces in the Broadband Puzzle
The Virginia County Broadband Survey
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
"The best time to update our broadband maps would have been four years ago; the second-best time is now," said FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "It's why I made it one of my top priorities, and why we're making the short-term fixes necessary to improve the data we currently collect
Biden wants to close the digital divide in the US. Here's what that could look like
The former auto parts warehouse Bill O'Boyle is refurbishing in Wilson, North Carolina, looks like a relic now, but within the next year, he hopes, it will be filled with dozens of people running his fast-growing tech consulting business.
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
The County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors today approved the Access Sonoma Broadband Action Plan to explore the creation of a publicly governed entity that would deploy, own, and manage broadband infrastructure for underserved or unserved regions of Sonoma County. The
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
The American Farm Bureau Federation supports two bills that would improve rural broadband connections.
AFBF Supports Pair of House Broadband Bills
Two bills introduced in the House of Representatives would help close the gap on rural broadband. Micheal Clements shares details on the legislation.
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
"Upholding this verdict would result in innocent and vulnerable users losing essential Internet access."
These concerns were raised in a court filing last week by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center For Democracy and Technology, the American Library Association, the Association of College And Research Libraries...
$1 billion piracy ruling could force ISPs to disconnect more Internet users
Increased account terminations would punish "innocent" users, groups tell court.
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
"Upholding this verdict would result in innocent and vulnerable users losing essential Internet access."
These concerns were raised in a court filing last week by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center For Democracy and Technology, the American Library Association, the Association of College And Research Libraries...
$1 billion piracy ruling could force ISPs to disconnect more Internet users
Increased account terminations would punish "innocent" users, groups tell court.
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
“WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced today at the White House the availability of nearly $1 billion in U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grants to expand broadband access and adoption on Tribal
Topics: BroadbandGrants FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 03, 2021News Media Contact: NTIA, Office of Public Affairs, (202) 482-7002, press@ntia.gov Vice President Harris, Secretary Raimondo and Secretary Haaland make announcement during White House event; Call for broadband investments in the American J....
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
The FCC unanimously adopted final rules to implement the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, a $7.17 billion program, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County
• up to $50/month discount for broadband service;
• up to $75/month discount for households on qualifying Tribal lands
Go to GetEmergencyBroadband.org to apply online and to find participating providers near you.
Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (American Sign Language)
Emergency Broadband Benefit ProgramThe Emergency Broadband Benefit is a temporary FCC program to help families and households struggling to afford broadband ...
Broadband Legislation Tracking:
California Legislation:
- SB 4 (Gonzalez, D- Long Beach) extends and updates the funding for CASF, promotes deployment of high-speed broadband, explores ways to facilitate streamlining of local land use approvals and construction permit processes for projects related to broadband infrastructure deployment and connectivity, and creates the Broadband Bond Financing Securitization Account to fund costs related to broadband bond financing and securities, including the deployment of infrastructure by local governments or nonprofits.
- AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters) extends the ongoing surcharge for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), specifies the allocation of the funding, allows the PUC to seek bond funding, and broadens the eligible uses of the California Advanced Services Fund to include local governments and tribes.
- SB 28 (Caballero, D-Salinas) would require the Department of Technology, in collaboration with other state agencies, to compile an inventory of state-owned resources that may be available for use in the deployment of broadband networks in rural, unserved, and underserved communities and collaborate on standardized agreements to enable those state-owned resources to be leased or licensed for that purpose. It would also give the CPUC and local governments the authority to review compliance by certain licensees for actual deployment and quality of service.
- AB 34 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) would place a general obligation bond measure of up to $10 billion on the November 2022 ballot to fund increased access to broadband services to rural, urban, suburban, and tribal unserved and underserved communities, that would be administered by the Department of Technology.
- AB 41 (Wood, D-Santa Rosa) would update California’s “dig once” policy for CalTrans to help expedite the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities and includes a provision for more transparency on the part of providers about planned deployment.
Federal Legislation
FCC Broadband Programs
- $98 million to implement the Broadband DATA Act to improve broadband mapping accuracy and accountability.
- $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund to establish an Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, under which eligible households may receive a discount off the cost of broadband service (up to $50 monthly benefit per eligible household and up to $75 on tribal lands).
- $250 million for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program.
- $1.9 billion to “Rip and Replace” certain unsecure equipment as directed by recent FCC regulations.
U.S. Department OF Education was appropriated $82 billion for continuation of CARES Act programs, allocated as follows:
- $4.1 billion for Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund.
- $54.3 billion for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. Colorado’s ESSER II allocation is $519 million. While this is a continuation of the CARES Act program, there are slight differences between ESSER and ESSER II.
- $22.7 billion for Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
President Biden has signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R 1319, “Act”) into law.
The key broadband-related provisions in the bill include the following:
- Emergency Connectivity Fund
o The $1.9 trillion package includes $7.17 billion for an Emergency Connectivity Fund to enable remote learning and to extend broadband connectivity to students in their homes, for which the FCC is to issue rules within 60 days of the Act’s enactment.
- Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund
o Section 604 appropriates $10 billion to a Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund that will be through U.S. Treasury Department. It will likely be administered like the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund with $100 million to each state. Broadband capital projects can be funded.
-
NTIA Broadband Programs
- $300 million to implement a broadband infrastructure deployment grant program benefiting rural areas, prioritizing applications delivering 100/20 Mbps or better broadband service in areas without access to 25/3 Mbps broadband service.
- $285 million to create the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives at the NTIA, focusing on access and adoption for minority communities.
- $1 billion to expand access and adoption of broadband on tribal lands.
[NTIA has 45 days to stand up programs and issue Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs).