Description of BEAM

Description of BEAM. BEAM is an Office within the Department of Finance and Administration established by the Mississippi Legislature in Section 3 of the Broadband and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) Act (“BEAM Act”), 2022 Miss. Laws, Ch. 397 (H.B. No. 1029), (codified at Miss. Code Ann. §§ 77-19-1 et seq.). (1) BEAM was established for the purpose of making determinations and awards from applications for projects to provide broadband services in the state using the Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) Fund (“BEAM Fund”) created pursuant to Section 4(4) of the BEAM Act, Miss. Code Ann. § 77-19-7(4). (2) BEAM is also tasked with coordinating all broadband expansion and accessibility efforts within the state to ensure an effective and efficient use of broadband grant funds and coordinating all information provided by broadband service providers to the state, including all broadband mapping efforts for the state. Any broadband service provider who fails or refuses to provide data and information requested and required by BEAM in furtherance of these tasks will be ineligible for grant funding.