by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
League Session:
How Your Town Can Access Federal Broadband Improvement Funds
Federal Broadband improvement money is now being distributed to municipalities. To apply, towns must supply maps of underserved or unserved areas. Once these maps are established, towns may apply for the funds needed to bring broadband to all.
At the 2024 League of Municipalities Conference, JAG co-hosted (along with the League) a session on this important issue to let New Jersey’s municipalities know how they can access these funds. The panel included Gerard Lederer, Attorney at Law from Best, Best & Krieger LLP; Valarry Bullard, Director, Broadband Office NJ BPU; Joseph Rivera, Manager of Broadband Access, NJ BPU; and Robert Boyle, President and CEO of Planet Networks. The session was moderated by Brian Wahler, Mayor of Piscataway.
Mr. Lederer started off by calming concerns people currently have on if New Jersey is already behind. Mr. Lederer related “Are we behind in giving out the broadband money compared to other states. And the answer is absolutely not. You’re exactly on track and in fact New Jersey has been a little bit at the front of the pack. Every time the announcement is made from the NTIA (which is part of the Department of Commerce) the folks the people giving the money out, they have to approve each of the plans first. There was a preliminary plan and then there was a five year plan and on each of those, New Jersey was at the front.”
He stated that “we’re in the middle of the challenge process now.” The challenge process began when the federal government created this whole procedure. They knew that both the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), and then each individual state would establish the programs, but they wanted to make sure that local governments voices were not lost in that process. Mayor Brian Wahler worked with NJ Congressman Frank Pallone to ensure that states were part of the challenge process.
So states get the money, but they are vulnerable to a challenge from local governments and public interest groups, if in fact the plan doesn’t address all unserved, underserved or traditionally left behind communities.
So New Jersey is in the process of that right now. But, what if the map and the program don’t match what’s happening in your community? It’s not their fault. It’s ours because we didn’t make the case! If you used any of your ARPA money at all and left some of it unspent, it’s will be lost! It all must be obligated and you must use it by the deadline: 12/31/24.
The BEAD program is the infrastructure program. Its $42.45 billion and $263.7 million are coming to New Jersey now. That ratio doesn’t sound right, but New Jersey in a lot of ways is being punished for having done its job correctly. This number was based upon the number of unserved locations that were found in each state and New Jersey has significantly fewer than most states.
“New Jersey is a fairly well connected state where we have just about 7% of our households that actually do not have access to devices,” added Valarry Bullard, Director, Broadband Office NJ BPU. “That means that when it comes to the technology and access, we are equally connected and we know that’s not the case.”
Ms. Bullard continued “Beyond that need infrastructure wise, we can get creative. We can do some non-deployment activities, making sure we’re focusing on workforce development on education. There are objectives that are needed to make sure everyone’s connected. Let’s make sure that people have devices and they have the digital skills. Because if you don’t know how to use a computer, while we can focus on teaching you that, it doesn’t help if you don’t actually have one. Or you can have a computer, but it doesn’t help if the infrastructure is not there.”
The FCC gives you the map and tells you how much funding you have. But then they come back and determine where that funding can be spent at the local level. The process was started, and the messages went out to make sure everyone’s aware of just how this program is going to work. Understanding that you have the ties to your communities, nonprofits, and utilities to help identify and spread that word.
So we’re in this process now. All responses need to be submitted by 12/31/24 and then we have our final determination. It’s not until this entire process is done in February that we will have our final map.
Next, Joseph Rivera, Manager of Broadband Access, NJ BPU, remarked that “We want to make sure that digital equity means a goal of every resident having the confidence and competence to harness the power of the Internet devices and digitally accessible services. Digital equity can help New Jersey bridge economic and achievement disparities among all residents and enabling them to lead fulfilling lives with dignity. What we’re planning to do is help people access affordable, high speed Internet and give people efficient, effective digital experiences with confidence and competence in accessing devices.”
We’re doing a lot of things to ensure that we’ve reach out to different agencies and see where their needs are, where they’re covering populations, how they’re affecting the covered populations that they represent. But we also want to do this community of practice. Mr. Rivera continued by commenting on how they are going to put more committees together. They want to make the state websites more accessible and visit more towns because they want to hear from everyone.
President and CEO of Planet Networks, Robert Boyle rounded out the session by suggesting how municipalities, providers and community organizations can help this process. “So, one of the things that we need to do with this big money is to make sure that it is spent in areas where it’s needed, where people are underserved. First thing is providing access to New Jersey broadband offices, the BEAD challenge portal and registering using register.broadband.nj.gov. Remember, they don’t know every street in your municipality and they don’t specifically know which areas are served and which areas are unserved they only have, a general idea from the FCC’s database.
You may need to challenge the addresses that show an area is already served, that are not actually being served. This allows the Broadband Office to allocate funds to provide service at that address. Also, you must challenge addresses that show as underserved, but are actually served. You don’t want money to go into things where there’s already service instead using that money in the places where they really need it.”
To reiterate, the onus is now at the state and governments levels. the goal is to ensure everyone is accounting for not just where those needs are, but also to ensure that the faces behind these funds are being carefully considered and know where to get help. We have until 12/31/24 to make this happen! JAG (Jersey Access Group) is an organization that advocates, promotes, and preserves the right to media production, distribution, civic engagement, and education in support of diverse community voices, through Public, Educational and Government access facilities and other forms of media. JAG continues to help its communities stay informed about these infrastructure projects.
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Legislative Update December 2024: News from Trenton & Washington, DC
Posted: December 6, 2024 by Doug Seidel
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
League Session:
How Your Town Can Access Federal Broadband Improvement Funds
Federal Broadband improvement money is now being distributed to municipalities. To apply, towns must supply maps of underserved or unserved areas. Once these maps are established, towns may apply for the funds needed to bring broadband to all.
At the 2024 League of Municipalities Conference, JAG co-hosted (along with the League) a session on this important issue to let New Jersey’s municipalities know how they can access these funds. The panel included Gerard Lederer, Attorney at Law from Best, Best & Krieger LLP; Valarry Bullard, Director, Broadband Office NJ BPU; Joseph Rivera, Manager of Broadband Access, NJ BPU; and Robert Boyle, President and CEO of Planet Networks. The session was moderated by Brian Wahler, Mayor of Piscataway.
Mr. Lederer started off by calming concerns people currently have on if New Jersey is already behind. Mr. Lederer related “Are we behind in giving out the broadband money compared to other states. And the answer is absolutely not. You’re exactly on track and in fact New Jersey has been a little bit at the front of the pack. Every time the announcement is made from the NTIA (which is part of the Department of Commerce) the folks the people giving the money out, they have to approve each of the plans first. There was a preliminary plan and then there was a five year plan and on each of those, New Jersey was at the front.”
He stated that “we’re in the middle of the challenge process now.” The challenge process began when the federal government created this whole procedure. They knew that both the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), and then each individual state would establish the programs, but they wanted to make sure that local governments voices were not lost in that process. Mayor Brian Wahler worked with NJ Congressman Frank Pallone to ensure that states were part of the challenge process.
So states get the money, but they are vulnerable to a challenge from local governments and public interest groups, if in fact the plan doesn’t address all unserved, underserved or traditionally left behind communities.
So New Jersey is in the process of that right now. But, what if the map and the program don’t match what’s happening in your community? It’s not their fault. It’s ours because we didn’t make the case! If you used any of your ARPA money at all and left some of it unspent, it’s will be lost! It all must be obligated and you must use it by the deadline: 12/31/24.
The BEAD program is the infrastructure program. Its $42.45 billion and $263.7 million are coming to New Jersey now. That ratio doesn’t sound right, but New Jersey in a lot of ways is being punished for having done its job correctly. This number was based upon the number of unserved locations that were found in each state and New Jersey has significantly fewer than most states.
“New Jersey is a fairly well connected state where we have just about 7% of our households that actually do not have access to devices,” added Valarry Bullard, Director, Broadband Office NJ BPU. “That means that when it comes to the technology and access, we are equally connected and we know that’s not the case.”
Ms. Bullard continued “Beyond that need infrastructure wise, we can get creative. We can do some non-deployment activities, making sure we’re focusing on workforce development on education. There are objectives that are needed to make sure everyone’s connected. Let’s make sure that people have devices and they have the digital skills. Because if you don’t know how to use a computer, while we can focus on teaching you that, it doesn’t help if you don’t actually have one. Or you can have a computer, but it doesn’t help if the infrastructure is not there.”
The FCC gives you the map and tells you how much funding you have. But then they come back and determine where that funding can be spent at the local level. The process was started, and the messages went out to make sure everyone’s aware of just how this program is going to work. Understanding that you have the ties to your communities, nonprofits, and utilities to help identify and spread that word.
So we’re in this process now. All responses need to be submitted by 12/31/24 and then we have our final determination. It’s not until this entire process is done in February that we will have our final map.
Next, Joseph Rivera, Manager of Broadband Access, NJ BPU, remarked that “We want to make sure that digital equity means a goal of every resident having the confidence and competence to harness the power of the Internet devices and digitally accessible services. Digital equity can help New Jersey bridge economic and achievement disparities among all residents and enabling them to lead fulfilling lives with dignity. What we’re planning to do is help people access affordable, high speed Internet and give people efficient, effective digital experiences with confidence and competence in accessing devices.”
We’re doing a lot of things to ensure that we’ve reach out to different agencies and see where their needs are, where they’re covering populations, how they’re affecting the covered populations that they represent. But we also want to do this community of practice. Mr. Rivera continued by commenting on how they are going to put more committees together. They want to make the state websites more accessible and visit more towns because they want to hear from everyone.
President and CEO of Planet Networks, Robert Boyle rounded out the session by suggesting how municipalities, providers and community organizations can help this process. “So, one of the things that we need to do with this big money is to make sure that it is spent in areas where it’s needed, where people are underserved. First thing is providing access to New Jersey broadband offices, the BEAD challenge portal and registering using register.broadband.nj.gov. Remember, they don’t know every street in your municipality and they don’t specifically know which areas are served and which areas are unserved they only have, a general idea from the FCC’s database.
You may need to challenge the addresses that show an area is already served, that are not actually being served. This allows the Broadband Office to allocate funds to provide service at that address. Also, you must challenge addresses that show as underserved, but are actually served. You don’t want money to go into things where there’s already service instead using that money in the places where they really need it.”
To reiterate, the onus is now at the state and governments levels. the goal is to ensure everyone is accounting for not just where those needs are, but also to ensure that the faces behind these funds are being carefully considered and know where to get help. We have until 12/31/24 to make this happen! JAG (Jersey Access Group) is an organization that advocates, promotes, and preserves the right to media production, distribution, civic engagement, and education in support of diverse community voices, through Public, Educational and Government access facilities and other forms of media. JAG continues to help its communities stay informed about these infrastructure projects.
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