The FCC released a count Wednesday of households enrolled in the emergency broadband benefit program: 4 million-plus.

The Office of Personnel Management “expects that many more Federal employees will be eligible to telework on a regular basis post-reentry,” said a memo to federal agencies issued Friday. Agency reentry plans were due last week (see 2107130038). The memo repeated that agencies must complete collective bargaining on reentry arrangements before having employees return to work and suggests topics that could come up in talks, such as telework arrangements, workplace safety measures, and the amount of advance notice. “Agencies may wish to take this opportunity to adjust their telework policies to reflect a new understanding about how telework has worked at their agencies,” said OPM. It provided information about agency options for allowing employees to telework occasionally or work remotely permanently. The FCC didn’t comment Monday.

NAB estimates 85% of NAB Show participants are vaccinated against COVID-19 or “intend to be” by opening day Oct. 9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, emailed the association Sunday. The coronavirus is “the elephant in the room” as planning progresses for NAB’s first in-person Las Vegas show in 30 months, it said. “So many of us are ready to get back to seeing products in 3D and not 2D, back to face-to-face interactions, back to NAB Show,” it said. “The excitement is palpable. But, after a global pandemic, it can also be a little scary.” The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the same day NAB canceled its Las Vegas show for that following month (see 2003110036). The WHO status remains. NAB Show will continue to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Clark County, Nevada, authorities on masks and other protocols, its website said. For those fully vaccinated, it’s “your choice” to wear a mask, it said. If not fully vaccinated, “please mask up.” The show is setting meeting rooms and "floor theaters" at 75% capacity, and is recommending exhibitors enforce 3-feet of social distancing in their booths. The level of COVID-19 "community transmission" was "high" for the week ended Friday, said the CDC. It reported that 40.6% of the county's population were fully vaccinated, compared with 49.1% nationally.

Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., filed the Securing Universal Communications Connectivity to Ensure Students Succeed (Success) Act Thursday to “build on” the COVID-19 $7.17 billion emergency connectivity fund. The new measure would provide $40 billion total for FY 2022-26 for schools and libraries to continue providing hot spots, modems, routers and internet-enabled devices post-pandemic. “Even after the coronavirus pandemic finally ends, we cannot ignore a key 21st century educational requirement -- internet access,” said lead Senate sponsor Markey. Fifteen senators and 25 House members are co-sponsors. The measure “provides important multi-year funding for schools and libraries to extend the reach of broadband to their communities” after the pandemic, said Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen. The bill’s sponsors also cited backing from acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Collaboration among stakeholders was described as a key to the FCC emergency broadband benefit. Speakers at NARUC in Denver, some of whom wanted something like EBB to continue indefinitely, said the program takes lots of work with community stakeholders and individual recipients. “It’s going to take a lot of collaboration, coordination" and “really doing the hard work,” said panel moderator and Connecticut regulator Michael Caron. “We are now trying to decide what is next” as people need broadband access, added the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority commissioner. “This looks like the new normal.” He doesn’t “think this is a temporary environment that we’re in.” Of EBB, “we think it needs to be permanent,” said Comcast Senior Vice President-External and Government Affairs Bret Perkins: “But it’s a significant step. And it’s going to be followed up by the Emergency Connectivity Fund” for educational institutions. There’s no “algorithm to solve” getting broadband to those lacking it, he said. “It’s hard work.” Speakers agreed EBB’s rollout is going OK. The Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership and other organizations getting the word out “are the glue that we need here,” said Perkins. Organizations such as HTTP helped consumers, figuring out what broadband plan to use, what ISP to buy service from, and other issues, said Executive Director Alejandro Roark. The “primary vehicle” to enroll is online, but many who could benefit lack such internet connections, he said. They could use a paper-based process, he noted: “For some, it’s easier to sit down and fill out the application” and submit it by postal mail. “It seems like we’ve been working with the program for ages,” said Tracfone Associate Vice President David Avila of the funding that got congressional OK in December. Such programs “are successful” only “through collaboration,” and having community advocates involved creates “credibility for the program,” he said: It helps to have “the providers in the community as well.” Toward the start of the panel, which had all participants in-person although the conference is a hybrid meeting (see 2107190074), Comcast’s Perkins said, “It’s great to be in 3D with actual people here.” He noted his trip was his first time on a plane during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington isn't ready for a return to pre-pandemic operating status but anticipates reopening fully to the public as soon as Sept. 1 if increases in COVID-19 vaccination rates and declines in new cases continue, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Chief Beryl Howell ordered Thursday. The judge said it's likely that reopening would still have health and safety protocols being employed in public spaces in the courthouse. Howell said any presiding judge of any court proceeding can determine whether public or media spectators can sit in the courtroom during a proceeding. She said social distancing will be maintained and fully vaccinated courthouse staff and people authorized to use nonpublic areas in the courthouse needn't be masked in those nonpublic areas. She said a presiding judge has discretion to let participants, including jurors and spectators, in a proceeding remove masks while in the courtroom.

The FCC Wireline Bureau gave AT&T, C Spire, WideOpenWest and Radiate one-month extension to submit reimbursement claims for emergency broadband benefit program newly enrolled subscribers, said an order Thursday. The bureau denied Radiate’s additional request to claim reimbursement for services provided to households that aren’t enrolled in the national Lifeline accountability database. It denied Point Broadband’s petition for extension until Aug. 16 to make reimbursement claims for May, June and July. Point's petition posted Thursday in docket 20-445. Point said it faced “multiple issues accessing the EBB program claims system” and spent “considerable time” seeking help from Universal Service Administrative Co. FCC staff previously granted EBB providers a one-month extension to submit May claims (see 2106080046).

NARUC's Telecom Subcommittee advanced three draft resolutions to the full committee for a Tuesday vote at the state regulators' policy summit in Denver. The proposals relate to Broadband Task Force recommendations, the emergency broadband benefit (EBB) and disaster outage reporting (see 2107070053). At Thursday’s virtual meeting, the subcommittee’s staff-level officials declined to vote on proposed amendments by industry to the EBB draft. NCTA suggested removing a clause recommending that Congress, in any EBB extension, “phase out the current partial bypass” of the state eligible telecom carrier designation process. Changing course now could disrupt service for customers whose EBB providers don’t yet have ETC status, said NCTA Vice President-State Affairs Rick Cimerman. TruConnect asked to add clauses urging the FCC to allow Lifeline ETC requests to use an alternative verification process in California, Texas and Oregon for EBB enrollment, and asking Congress to give money to states that haven’t been able to connect Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases to the Lifeline national verifier. About 15 states haven’t connected SNAP databases, with most saying it’s because they lack funding to update interfaces, said TruConnect attorney Judson Hill. The full committee could still take up industry’s proposed changes at its business meeting, said Subcommittee Chair Joseph Witmer, counsel to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown.

About half of all organizations globally lacked work-from-home policies before COVID-19, but more than 80% now have them, reported the Fibre Council Global Alliance Monday. And 52% identified limited internet connectivity as the top challenge for employees suddenly thrust into a remote-work environment, it said: “Resolution of this and other challenges included changing ISPs, upgrading equipment, limiting internet use, and adjusting time of day online meetings and tasks were being conducted.”

COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through Sept. 8, the Copyright Office said Friday. Originally to have expired May 12, 2020, adjustments have been extended multiple times (see 2103090021).