{"id":73850,"date":"2025-07-05T11:17:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T18:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73850"},"modified":"2025-07-05T11:17:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T18:17:06","slug":"new-federal-guidelines-for-broadband-access-funding-an-attack-on-rural-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73850","title":{"rendered":"New Federal Guidelines for Broadband Access Funding an Attack on Rural California"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Edward Kissam<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Trump administration\u2019s new approach to allocating funding for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program will harm rural Californians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Image credit: UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering \u2013 Katherine Connor (Published via CC 3.0 \u2013 Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego)<\/em><\/p>\n

In our hyper-online era, digital equity is crucial. Whether we\u2019re talking access to health care, education, managing household finances, or participating in civic affairs and political discussions, having a fast and reliable internet connection is vital.<\/p>\n

Yet new\u00a0federal guidelines<\/a>\u00a0for a $42.5 billion initiative to extend broadband access to rural communities throughout the U.S. hamstring these very efforts.<\/p>\n

In California\u2019s case, the state\u2019s stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), workforce skills development, and climate change, has put it in the crosshairs of the Trump administration\u2019s new approach to allocating funding for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.<\/p>\n

The new guidelines, announced June 6, provide easy opportunities to arbitrarily deprive California of billions of dollars during the next four years. Low-income minority households in rural parts of the state stand to be among those most affected.<\/p>\n

More alarming still is that this blow comes after two years of visionary state planning to advance digital equity. Even before the new BEAD guidelines were announced, California was notified on May 9, 2025 that its\u00a0Digital Equity Capacity Program was terminated<\/a>, resulting in an immediate loss of $70 million and signaling that future funding might also be compromised.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the President determined and as Secretary Lutnick agreed, the Digital Equity Capacity Program, 47 U.S.C. \u00a7 1723, is unconstitutional and grants issued pursuant to it were created with, and administered using, impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences,\u201d according to a May 9\u00a0letter sent to the California Department of Technology<\/a>, which oversees IT projects and planning for the state.<\/p>\n

Stalled progress toward digital equity hurts both individual households and entire communities. Consequences of impaired broadband access include:<\/p>\n