At their December 3 meeting, the Washington State Public Works Board approved over $44.6 million in conditional grants for 15 broadband construction projects in unserved and underserved communities across the state.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the Department has begun accepting applications for up to $1.15 billion in loans and grants to help people in rural areas get access to high-speed internet.

Find the rule at https://www.regulations.gov/document/RUS_FRDOC_0001-0695

A pair of bills seeking to expand broadband access in Washington state went into effect on July 25. The bills, HB 1336 and SB 5383, will allow not-for-profit, community-owned public utility districts (PUD), ports, and counties to provide retail broadband service directly to customers. Under previous legislation enacted in 2000, PUDs have been able to build out the infrastructure for broadband internet, but were required to let private internet service providers deliver service.

OLYMPIA — The Public Broadband Act, HB 1336, took effect Sunday to help ensure families and businesses throughout Washington state have access to high speed internet. “Washington state now joins the majority of states that allow unrestricted public broadband. This is long overdue. It will help people across the state have cheaper and better options for internet access,” said bill sponsor Rep. Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island).

Washington state went all in on expanding public broadband this year. So much so, that the Legislature passed two different bills aimed at extending high-speed internet to people in rural areas. It’s possible, however, that two bills aren’t better than one. And they may partly cancel each other out. Now that Gov. Jay Inslee has signed both measures into law, confusion is mounting about whether the two laws can co-exist.

On Tuesday, Washington Representative Kim Schrier participated in a House Ag Committee hearing focused on rural broadband. Lawmakers focused not only on internet connectivity needs, but also opportunities that exist in rural America. Schrier said a lack of broadband access in rural Washington holds the farming community back in a variety of ways.

To take advantage of all the federal funds up for grabs, PUDs need to be granted “retail authority” – the ability to sell telecommunications services directly to consumers, which is currently illegal thanks to a law favored by private providers. Rather than allowing public utilities to provide broadband service directly to consumers, the law allows them to sell or lease broadband infrastructure on a wholesale basis only, and under strict restrictions.

“Broadband is the new electricity,” said the White House. “It is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school learning, health care, and to stay connected. Yet, by one definition, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds. Americans in rural areas and on tribal lands particularly lack adequate access.”

DURING HIS CAMPAIGN, BIDEN SAID HE WOULD “EXPAND BROADBAND, OR WIRELESS BROADBAND VIA 5G, TO EVERY AMERICAN.

Reliable and affordable high-speed internet e-Connectivity, or electronic connectivity, is fundamental for economic activity throughout the US.

Federal funding, “and a very significant amount of it,” will be needed to bring broadband access to all of rural America, he said. “I’m skeptical the private sector by itself is ever going to do what it needs to make sure that every remote area of this country has access to high-speed internet” because of the cost of providing service. The government took a prominent role during the New Deal in electrifying rural America.

Washington’s long-held restriction on public utilities offering public broadband service directly to residents is one step closer to being overturned after the House voted 60-37 to pass the Public Broadband Act (HB 1336).