As we get ready to break out the champagne flutes and toast to a new year, MeriTalk SLG is taking a look back at the most popular state and local government stories from the past year.

To help close the broadband digital divide, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed an enhanced competition incentive program to encourage licensees to offer opportunities for small carriers and Tribal Nations to obtain spectrum via lease, partition, or disaggregation.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced 18 new broadband projects the state will undertake in an effort to close the digital divide.

After more than two months of angling and dealmaking, the House of Representatives voted to approve the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework – on November 5, sending the bill along with its $2 billion in cyber funding and $65 billion in broadband appropriations to President Biden’s desk for final approval.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City would spend the next three years building publicly-owned broadband infrastructure serving 1.6 million residents while partnering on immediate-term affordable internet connectivity for more than 250,000 residents.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice unveiled his $1 billion broadband strategy to connect 200,000 West Virginia homes and businesses.

New York state has launched the Broadband Mapping Consumer Survey to assist in its first-ever in-depth statewide mapping study of broadband to identify the availability, reliability, and cost of high-speed broadband services across the state.

 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a mostly favorable review from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how the agency is proceeding with improving broadband service access maps, but GAO also flagged that the FCC will face technological challenges with integrating disparate sources of broadband service location data.

A new agreement led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will allow eight neighboring states and Washington, D.C., to offer Internet access, devices, and other technology to constituents through local agencies at a discounted rate via Verizon’s Digital Inclusion Program.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program provides subsidized broadband service for eligible households. However, the program is now facing a trust challenge in its awareness campaign and is aiming to overcome that hurdle, said Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting chairwoman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on September 13 at an Internet Innovation Alliance webinar.