D.C. Memo: West Virginia Governor – Lutnick’s BEAD Changes 'Well Intentioned'
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BEAD: West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) yesterday took a few questions about the meeting last week with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the state’s evolving BEAD plan. Lutnick gave Morrisey an additional 90 days to show how the state plans to disburse $1.2 billion allocated by the Biden administration in 2023 to make broadband deployment grants. “We’re looking closely at the different ideas that we’ve heard talked about – technology neutral, having more opportunities for different types of technology that can bring broadband to our citizens and we're very open in that process,” Morrisey said at a 20-minute press conference in Charleston. Morrisey did not share details about what Lutnick was requiring. “I think that the Trump administration will obviously announce that during their time period when they're ready,” Morrisey said. Morrisey said his biggest concern was to craft a plan that would be approved by the Commerce Department. “It would be such a big economic development project, if we get this broadband money in. But I want to make sure I do it right. It would have been foolish to just something that's going to get rejected, right?,” Morrisey said. The first-term leader did not indicate he was being pressured to make changes over his opposition. “After that conversation [with Lutnick], I think that we saw that there are going to be some changes to how the Trump administration is rolling out the BEAD program and I think they're well intentioned. They're trying to do a lot of positive things, and they’ll be different from the Biden administration,” he said.
