On this week’s Priorities Podcast, a director at the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School shares ways the administration of President Donald Trump can accelerate funding to states through the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Michael Santorelli says BEAD can be made more effective by rolling back unnecessary requirements, addressing rate regulation and providing clearer guidance on satellite services like Starlink. But he says his group’s main recommendation is to get shovels in the ground faster. “Had Biden been re-elected, and the NTIA regime had stayed the same, they were on a timeline for not getting shovels in the ground in some states until like later next year,” he says. “And so anything that can close that or shorten that period of time and start getting projects going soon in the spring, certainly, hopefully, I think would be easy to claim a success then.”

This week’s top stories:

Amid delays by the federal government to release public health data like counts on avian influenza cases, state governments are continuing to build up their own public health reporting tools, including a new global report developed by the New York State Department of Health.

The National Association of Secretaries of State has sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, noting a preference that she retain certain services used by state and local election officials to protect the nation’s critical elections infrastructure. The request arrives as the former South Dakota governor evaluates further cuts to her department and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

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