TPRC 2024: The 52nd Research Conference on Communications, Information and Inter

Link to paper

Abstract:
This paper will analyze regulatory conflicts within American states that have passed laws restricting municipal or non-profit projects to build local broadband networks, and the requirements for receiving grants under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

This paper will conduct a state-by-state comparative policy analysis of the contradictions between anti-expansion/preemption laws and the desire of those states to partake of billions of dollars in BEAD funds. The analysis will include the strategies that lawmakers and lobbyists used when passing the restrictive statutes, and their more recent attempts to explain those contradictions in politicized ways.

Furthermore, federal interpretations of the regulatory contradictions, especially the federal government's demand for state restrictions to be waived, may evolve during 2024 as the U.S. Supreme Court reassesses federal regulatory procedures. Therefore, the paper will include the most up-to-date judicial developments, as the BEAD program may or may not be able to supersede state laws. The paper will ultimately reveal whether BEAD funding for needy communities is likely to be stalled by these regulatory conflicts.