Protec Michigan

06/15/2026

☎️ Do you still own a landline you use? That could be a thing of the past.

➡️ Here’s what’s happening in California that could have a ripple effect in other states and something to watch for. 👀 ⤵️

AT&T landline disconnection notices -FCC takes comments until June 15.

NEVADA CITY, Calif. June 14, 2026 – AT&T customers have received letters advising them their traditional landline service will be discontinued and encouraging them to switch to alternative technologies. The hurdles to using these alternatives are electrical power and availability. Members of the public have until June 15 to comment on AT&T’s application.

Link to article in comments.

06/13/2026

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Representative April McClain Delaney (MD-06) led a letter with her House colleagues demanding that the Department of Commerce explain its continued withholding of appropriated funds that Congress explicitly authorized under its historic $65 billion-dollar internet initiative known as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Authorized under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and overseen by Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), this program represents the largest federal investment in history aimed at bridging the digital divide and delivering affordable, high-speed internet to every home in America.

Press Release in comments below.

06/12/2026

The battle over who controls the clock on broadband infrastructure permitting has moved squarely to the FCC’s doorstep, and America’s mayors are not going quietly.

A coalition of the nation’s most influential local government organizations has formally pushed back against federal proposals that would impose strict deadlines — known as “shot clocks” — on local reviews of broadband and wireless infrastructure projects, arguing that the push to accelerate deployment is coming at a direct cost to public safety and local oversight. Article in comments


Article in comments

06/11/2026

For 30 years PROTEC, its members, and affiliate organizations have been fighting to keep local control. But we need your help to do it. Let your voice be heard to keep it local and not give in to industry.

While local leaders in the City of Walker are working hard to promote partnership-based housing solutions, there is a bill package making its way through the state legislature that threatens to create an unprecedented erosion of local decision-making. ⚠️

Keeping locals at the heart of land use and zoning decisions is democracy in practice. Now’s the time to speak up against this housing preemption.

Let your voice be heard! Sign on in opposition to the Housing Readiness Package here:
https://hubs.la/Q04l4Mgj0

06/06/2026

The Pew Charitable Trusts has found that states that have invested in their broadband offices are better equipped to develop connectivity solutions to meet the specific needs of their communities and its providers. Other research has shown that these states also tend to have more fiber networks in rural areas and higher rates of private sector competition.

BEAD seems to be gathering momentum. Last month the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Nebraska Governor’s Office announced the first state’s first household has been connected to broadband. The progress does not mean, however, that no obstacles and challenges exist. ➡️ article in comments below ⤵️

06/05/2026

Foster Introduces Legislation to Expand Broadband Access for Students

Washington, DC — Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced the Closing the Digital Divide for Students Act to expand broadband access for low-income families in HUD-assisted housing. This bill would allow families living in HUD-assisted housing, whose children qualify for free or reduced lunch, to use federal assistance on broadband internet access.
(Article in Comments ⤵️ )

05/26/2026

Join us tomorrowfor our monthly meeting and find out why members are an integral part of PROTEC defending local authority and the public rights of way. Plus, we share a recent decision in favor of municipalities and how communities can act to claim any monies owed them.

Meeting: Wednesday, May 27 starting at 2pm
Via Zoom or in person at Dearborn City Hall.

Details: https://www.facebook.com/share/18k89yHnLq/?mibextid=wwXIfr

05/25/2026

On this day we pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you.

05/21/2026

In the warm halls of the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island in June of 1996, then Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido huddled with his legal and policy counsel and MML leadership and urged the creation of a new entity that could be a strong voice for local control of our ROW in the face of then recent efforts by the telecommunications industry to install a new kind of communication lines called “optical fiber” in the City Rights Of Way.

For Free. And, without regulation.

Livonia, Southfield and a dozen other communities joined the effort. Within a few years, over 100 communities joined up and almost 500 follow PROTEC from across the country.