Innovative Statewide Broadband Infrastructure Legislation

Problem

 According to the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, approximately 1.1 million North Carolina residents lack access to high-speed internet. This digital divide remains most prevalent in rural parts of our state, the result of cost, device inadequacy, and lack of digital literacy. In a digital age and the global pandemic, broadband access has become an issue of both equity and access.

Solution

The Innovative State Broadband Infrastructure bill (Senate Bill 517) would (1) appropriate money to the Department of Information Technology to prepare a statewide broadband maps; (2) relax regulatory burdens to expedite broadband expansion; (3) allow use of existing easements for broadband expansion; (4) expand distribution of state surplus computers and computer hardware for nonprofits; (5) expand funding for our state’s G.R.E.A.T. Program (which provides grants for the extension of high-speed internet to rural parts of the state), and (6) provide stopgap internet access for classroom access, healthcare, and job creation.