Governor Murphy’s office is working with the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to put together New Jersey’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Five-Year Action Plan and is surveying local governments and organizations to better understand available resources.
The BEAD Program is part of President Biden’s Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), appropriating $263 million to New Jersey for the deployment, mapping, and adoption of broadband. To efficiently carry out this program, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) requested that each state develops a Five-Year Action Plan detailing different measures and efforts to ensure the expansion of digital equity and accessibility. This plan will be comprehensive, requiring the coordinated effort of the many stakeholders concerned with digital accessibility in the state.
Those interested should complete the survey by July 31. The information provided by this survey will be shared with NTIA and utilized by the Governor’s Office and BPU as the state’s five-year plan is formulated.