On May 31, 2019, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on creating a budget cap on the overall Universal Service Fund. The FCC "…seeks comment on combining the E-Rate and Rural Healthcare Program caps. Schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities increasingly offer important community resources over their broadband networks. Combining the program caps may be justifiable given that both programs promote the use of advanced services to anchor institutions that have similar needs for high-quality broadband services…"
Due to the education communities concerns over complexity of the proposed rulemaking, the original comment deadline of July 15 has been extended to July 29, 2019 and the reply comments deadline has been extended from August 12 to August 26, 2019. The FCC extending deadline notice can be viewed here.
