California agencies aren’t measuring the success of broadband funding by households served, but by the miles of wires installed.
Recent state data collected by the California Public Utilities Commission found that at least 362,000 households are unserved by an internet service provider. To, in 2021, the Legislature and the Newsom administration approved $6 billion for a “Broadband for All” funding package to promote the development of new broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities. These funds were largely provided by the federal government and to be used before December 2026.
Why is that? There are several reasons. On one hand, the CPUC and California Department of Technology, state departments in charge of implementing the broadband infrastructure, are not measuring the success of the funding by the number of under or unserved households connected. Instead, they focus on the miles of wires in the ground. Not only that, but these two state departments are, at best, talking past each other and, at worst, disjointed in their coordination.
As thechair of the Assembly Committee on Communications and Conveyance, I feel we are actively failing to connect our unserved and underserved communities. It is evident that the CPUC has not made progress and will not prioritize progress. The agency has become so flippant that it even refused to make a commissioner available for a legislative oversight hearing.