POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Economic and Workforce Health

Policy Recommendation 1:

States can devote federal infrastructure funds to broadband access and expansion.

The Economic and Workforce Health Subcommittee approved this recommendation, recognizing the need to close the digital divide by allocating federal infrastructure funds to ensure broadband access and expansion.

Slow or nonexistent broadband access can hinder personal, professional and educational growth. I represent the Central Valley in California, and families and businesses often don’t have internet or cell phone service in their homes and towns. Our cyber infrastructure is vastly behind other areas of the country and state. Federal infrastructure funding is available and should be devoted to improving and expanding broadband access.”

— Sen. Melissa Hurtado, California

Access to high-speed, reliable internet allows individuals, communities and businesses to remain connected and engaged in today’s world. The digital divide is the center of multiple societal problems, including racial and other inequities caused by skewed digital access to services such as health care and education. Research indicates that at least 60% of health care facilities outside of metropolitan areas and at least 40% of schools in these areas lack broadband access.1

A 10-percentage-point increase in broadband access in 2014 would have resulted in more than 875,000 additional U.S. jobs and $186 billion more in economic output by 2019.2 Although nearly $100 billion of infrastructure investment has been allocated by the federal government, the digital divide remains significant.3 The estimated cost of ensuring that every individual in the U.S. has access to high-speed, affordable and reliable internet access ranges from $100 billion to $240 billion.4

State Examples

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations estimated in 2017 that connecting up to 160,000 unserved homes in certain areas of the state would cost between $125 million and $799 million.5

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed Legislative Bill 388 into law in May 2021. The bill provides $20 million in matching grants to connect 30,000 households with fast and reliable broadband, facilitate participation in remote education, access telehealth services and engage in e-commerce.6

California’s state budget (Assembly Bill 164) allocated $4.4 billion in 2021 (out of a three-year funding total of $6 billion) to increase broadband accessibility and affordability and support libraries and technology hubs.

Additional Resources

ƒ Healthy States National Task Force Policy Brief: Broadband — https://web.csg.org/csghealthystates/wp-content/uploads/ sites/23/2022/05/Healthy-States-National-Task-Force-Policy-BriefBroadband.pdf

ƒ Pew Research - How States Are Expanding Broadband Access: New research identifies tactics for connecting unserved communities — https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/ reports/2020/02/how-states-are-expanding-broadband-access

Endnotes

1 Winslow, J. (July 26, 2019). America’s Digital Divide. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2022, from Pew Research: Trust Magazine: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/summer-2019/ americas-digital-divide.

2 Fritz, J., & Littmann, D. (2021). Broadband for All: Charting a Path to Economic Growth. Deloitte. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2022, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ us/Documents/process-and-operations/us-charting-a-path-to-economic-growth.pdf.

3 Ibid.

4 Chakravorti, B. (July 20, 2021). How to Close the Digital Divide in the U.S. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2022, from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2021/07/how-to-close-the-digital-divide-in-the-u-s.

5 Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. (2017). Broadband Internet Deployment, Availability, and Adoption in Tennessee. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2022, from https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tacir/documents/2017_Broadband.pdf.

6 Office of Governor Pete Ricketts. (May 26, 2021). Media Release: Gov. Ricketts Signs Legislation to Expand Broadband Internet Access in Nebraska. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2022, from https://governor.nebraska.gov/press/gov-ricketts-signs-legislation-expand-broadband-internet-access-nebraska.