Utah, New Mexico and Other Western States Ask Commerce to Minimize Changes to BEAD
'We urge NTIA to continue to allow states and territories to set high-cost thresholds,' the 22 governors wrote.
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2025 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration should not significantly disrupt its $42.45 billion broadband expansion effort when it updates the program’s rules, a governors' association representing 22 states and territories said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“We suggest that if NTIA gives states the option to either opt into the revised application and bidding processes or continue with their original plans, these delays in deployment could likely be avoided,” the governors wrote in a letter to Lutnick dated Tuesday, June 3 and published Wednesday, June 4.
Signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on behalf of the 22 member entities of the Western Governors Association, the letter is the latest in a raft of efforts urging the Commerce Department to allow states to proceed with current plans under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.
The governors said western states tend to have more difficult-to-reach homes and businesses because of their expansive geography, and asked Commerce to continue allowing states to decide for themselves when deploying fiber would become too expensive.
“Any revised BEAD guidance should account for these increased costs to support hard-to-reach households,” the governors wrote. “As Governors possess specialized knowledge of the environments and circumstances within our states and territories, we urge NTIA to continue to allow states and territories to set high-cost thresholds.”
Commerce to issue a new Notice of Funding Opportunity
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told senators Wednesday that a new notice of funding opportunity would be coming “shortly,” and that it would give states 90 days from then to apply for funding – Commerce houses NTIA.
It’s not yet completely clear if the new rules will require the more than 40 states that have started or finished their bidding to redo all their work. The Western governors said states should have the option to proceed with their plans as they are.
They cited a potential one-year delay if states had to heavily revise them.
The association said NTIA Acting Administrator Adam Cassady and other staff had an “informative and helpful conversation with our states and territories on May 14.”
In Lutick’s testimony Wednesday, he said that “as long as you are technologically agnostic, and agree to provide broadband at the cheapest price per user,” Commerce would approve states’ BEAD plans by the end of the year.
West Virginia had selected tentative grant winners and completed its plan, but with its deadline to submit the plan looming, Lutnick in March gave the state 90 extra days to revise its plan to conform with Trump administration priorities. The plan was all-fiber, and the state’s governor suggested in a recent op-ed that West Virginia was working to include fixed wireless and satellite. The state said it received few non-fiber applications according to a draft of its final plan, and hasn’t publicly solicited more bids from ISPs.
Three states received Commerce approval on their spending plans in January under the Biden administration and are still undergoing a review by Commerce’s grants manager.
A drumbeat of lawmakers – including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the Republican senator from West Virginia – broadband trade associations, and other stakeholders have been pleading with Lutnick in recent weeks not to majorly upend the BEAD program.
