Article Summary<\/p>\n
JB Pritzker sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, urging the release of $1 billion in broadband infrastructure funds previously allocated to Illinois.
\nLutnick announced a review of the federal funding program last year, saying it had failed to connect anyone to the internet due in part to \u201cwoke mandates.\u201d
\nPresident Donald Trump also directed the Commerce Department to explore whether the broadband funding could be withheld from states with artificial intelligence regulations that did not align with national policy.<\/p>\n
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2014 Gov. JB Pritzker sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, urging him to approve Illinois\u2019 proposal for federal broadband infrastructure funds.<\/p>\n
The $1 billion proposal would connect roughly 383,000 people, mostly in rural areas, to high-speed internet.<\/p>\n
However, Illinois and California lag months behind other states in the approval process \u2014 leading to speculation that the funds have been withheld from the two blue states for political punishment or leverage.<\/p>\n
Those funds were previously allocated<\/a> to states in 2023 under the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program established by the Biden administration\u2019s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed by Congress in 2021.<\/p>\n To receive funding, states were required to submit a five-year plan and proposal identifying under- and unserved communities, solicit feedback from the public, and then file for final approval.<\/p>\n But midway through the process, Lutnick announced<\/a> the Commerce Department would review the program, which he claimed had \u201cnot connected a single person to the internet\u201d due to \u201cwoke mandates,\u201d favoritism and burdensome regulations.<\/p>\n He vowed to work with states and territories to cut red tape and get households connected quickly at the lowest cost possible.<\/p>\n Last June, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, which oversees the approval of BEAD proposals, released a policy notice<\/a> outlining restructuring for the program and creating new delays.<\/p>\n An audit by the Government Accountability Office later found the move had violated the Congressional Review Act<\/a> by failing to approve the changes with Congress, but the agency has not since walked back the changes.<\/p>\n It gave states until September to comply with the changes and committed to reviewing all final proposals within 90 days<\/a> of submission.<\/p>\n But, more than seven months since Illinois submitted its final proposal, the review is still not complete. California is the only other state or territory that still has not received approval, according to NTIA\u2019s BEAD Progress Dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point, it seems unusual and targeted that the U.S. Department of Commerce had the capacity to complete in-depth reviews and approvals for every single state except for Illinois and California,\u201d Pritzker wrote in his letter to Lutnick. \u201cIllinois families and businesses in rural areas are the ones paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n AI compliance<\/p>\n Potentially complicating the release of funds is an executive order<\/a> signed by President Donald Trump last December. The order sought to shield tech companies from state laws regulating artificial intelligence. It targeted state laws, including several in Illinois<\/a>, that Trump said are inconsistent with national policy on AI.<\/p>\n Read more: Illinois leaders \u2018won\u2019t back down\u2019 following Trump\u2019s order limiting AI regulation<\/a><\/p>\n In the order, Trump directed Lutnick to explore whether BEAD funding could be withheld from states with \u201conerous\u201d AI laws, a move Pritzker\u2019s office at the time called \u201creckless\u201d and said \u201cdoesn\u2019t protect anyone but the wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n An NTIA spokesperson said in a statement that \u201cNTIA is continuing to work with Illinois to ensure its final BEAD plan delivers the benefit of the bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson did not address questions about the impact of Trump\u2019s executive order for AI compliance on the BEAD fund allocation.<\/p>\n \u2018Time is money\u2019<\/p>\n Pritzker implored Lutnick to be guided by his decades of experience working on Wall Street in understanding that \u201ctime is money\u201d for Illinois homes and businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cEach passing day keeps over 383,000 Illinoisans and over 1,200 schools, libraries, and hospitals disconnected,\u201d Pritzker wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cPatients are unable to access critical telemedicine services, students cannot complete homework online, farmers are left without the necessary tools to monitor crops, new businesses cannot leverage online platforms and job seekers lose out on opportunities to support their families.\u201d<\/p>\n