Washington Governor Jay Inslee has signed legislation that will end the state’s restriction on public utilities offering public broadband service directly to residents. The Public Broadband Act (HB 1336) cleared its final hurdle with bipartisan support (65-32) after the House concurred with Senate amendments to the bill. The measure allows retail broadband service to be offered by all public utility districts, port districts, towns, cities, and counties, and allows for better collaboration with neighboring tribes.
Rep. Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), who sponsored the bill, said he is grateful to the parents, teachers, tribal members, activists, public utility districts, and Washington residents who signed a petition to support the bill.
“The pandemic has shown us that everyone needs affordable, high-speed broadband: for the past year, we’ve all relied on the internet for remote school, remote work, remote healthcare, and more,” Hansen said. “Broadband is just as basic to modern life as power or water, and this bill allows all local governments to provide it directly to the public. With this bill, Washington finally joins the majority of states that allow full public broadband.”
Before the pandemic, in 2019, the Washington state legislature enacted a bill that directed three state agencies to work in collaboration to meet the goal of providing access to affordable broadband to all residents.
In the 2021 legislative session, 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have pending legislation addressing broadband in areas such as educational institutions and schools, dig once, funding, governance authorities and commissions, infrastructure, municipal-run broadband networks, rural and underserved communities, smart communities, and taxes, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Washington state joins 14 states that have enacted legislation or adopted resolutions: Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
The federal government has recognized the digital divide and homework gap in several ways. In the middle of this month, the FCC began the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program*, which provides a temporary discount on monthly broadband bills for qualifying low-income households. Eligible households can receive up to a $50 a month discount on broadband service and associated equipment rentals. The benefit goes up to $75 a month if the household is on qualifying tribal land, A one-time discount of up to $100 is available for a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer, Inside Towers reported.
*Inside Towers, May 12, 2021, “Enrollment in Emergency Broadband Benefit Program Opens”
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