As the state has shifted to distanced and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Jersey Department of Education announced it has closed the K-12 digital divide by using roughly $60 million in Federal funding.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., are introducing legislation that will provide up to $15 billion in matching grants to increase access to broadband services in areas of the United States that are unserved by broadband meeting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) minimum definition of that service.

A bipartisan group of senators from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has reintroduced the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, a bill to address the shortage of trained telecom workers.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson released the Arkansas State Broadband Map, an interactive tool that allows Arkansans to find broadband providers in their neighborhood and assists state agencies in developing broadband policy. 

Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, released a new bill that aims to improve science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science (STEM) education in rural communities.

After months with no movement and a weekend full of deal-making, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package as part of a broader Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) omnibus spending bill. The relief includes a new round of Payment Protection Program (PPP) funding, money for broadband deployment and emergency use, and money to remove banned Huawei and ZTE equipment.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation signed off on three broadband bills during a Nov. 18 business meeting.

Fifteen Democratic Senators penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 20, pushing Chairman Ajit Pai to increase funding for and improve transparency about rural healthcare operations.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order August 3 to make COVID-19 era changes to telehealth – such as telehealth coverage in Medicare programs and investments in telecommunications infrastructure – permanent after the pandemic ends.

Both the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Commerce are progressing ahead on rural broadband agency priority goals (APG) as a part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) with some help from emergency funds in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.