Every week, more state legislatures move forward providing money for broadband service in unserved and underserved areas, and state agencies are looking at collaborating to make sure that money is spent wisely.
After the State of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz proposed $50 million be spent on broadband in January, the state’s legislature upped the ante to $70 million on Tuesday for state high-speed internet grants, according to MinnPost. But gaps in coverage will likely remain.
The grant fund, which will likely be paid for with federal money, isn’t enough to close the digital divide that has “long plagued Minnesota,” and the state may still miss universal coverage goals with 25 Mbps/3 Mbps upload by 2022 and 100/20 Mbps by 2026, wrote Walker Orenstein, staff writer. “But if legislators approve the cash in a special session later this month, it would be the largest infusion of money into the program since it began in 2014 [with a $126 million grant plan].”
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the North Carolina legislature began considering using $750 million in federal aid to expand internet access across North Carolina, including county and state funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, according to The Mountaineer. More than one million North Carolinian households lack internet service, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Last week, during a panel at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) summit, state broadband officials urged states to collaborate in their efforts to provide broadband connectivity, according to StateScoop.
Colorado CIO Tony Neal-Graves said, regardless of the funding influx, states will fail unless they work with the private sector and local partners. In fact, he said, regional councils, counties and municipalities should help develop the broadband plan.
The speed of broadband deployment will increase and the costs will be lowered “greatly by collaborating and sharing information,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote in his Broadband Initiative Report.
California’s broadband council includes the state’s Chief Information Officer, other agency representatives, public utilities commission officials and emergency services leaders, StateScoop quotes Scott Adams, the deputy director for broadband and digital literacy in the California Department of Technology. “NASCIO, in its federal advocacy priorities, supports increased partnerships between state and federal agencies to resolve challenges associated with broadband expansion in rural and low-income areas, including lack of economic incentive for internet providers and lack of competition that keep broadband prices too high,” Adams said.
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