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State Lawmakers Gut Wisconsin Governor’s $750 million Plan to Invest in Broadband Infrastructure
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In Wisconsin, Republican state lawmakers voted earlier this month to kill Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to invest $750 million of Wisconsin tax dollars to expand high-speed Internet infrastructure across the Badger State.
Republicans on the state legislature’s budget committee voted to reject the proposed broadband funds, arguing that the state should wait for Wisconsin’s forthcoming share of the $42.5 billion in federal BEAD funds instead.
Although the state has a record budget surplus projected at more than $7 billion, it’s the first time in the past decade the GOP-controlled state legislature has not allocated funds to expand broadband, which drew a blunt rebuke from Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback.
“It’s outrageous that Republicans have absolutely nothing to show for plans to actually address the pressing challenges facing our state — embarrassing doesn’t begin to cover it,” Cudaback told the Wisconsin State Journal.
The state is expecting to receive between $700 million and $1.1 billion in BEAD funds from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) with the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) estimating the total cost of deploying expanded broadband infrastructure statewide to be about $1.8 billion.
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Republican lawmakers seized on that to justify the decision to maintain the status quo, which leaves the state with an estimated 460,000 “underserved” locations and 59,000 “unserved” by providers able to deliver the FCC’s minimum (and outmoded) definition of acceptable broadband speeds: 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps).
However, PSC officials say, the number of Wisconsin residents without access to adequate broadband is likely higher because while many regions of the state may have access to 25/3 Mbps service in theory, in reality aging networks and equipment in certain communities make it difficult to deliver those speeds reliably and consistently.
Nevertheless, State Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, explained the vote to gut the state’s broadband funds by saying: “Often in government, we have a tendency to measure success by how much money we spend, rather than what is the outcome. What I'm hearing from the providers in my area, the pipeline is pretty full.”
Because the BEAD spending rules prioritize building in mostly rural areas, by refusing to use state funds and much more flexible American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for broadband infrastructure limits the state’s options moving forward, particularly in dealing with urban communities and more densely-populated areas where residents lack broadband. The funding cuts also means that some of those without access to broadband will have to wait many more years still, before they see any high-speed Internet connectivity.
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The NTIA, which administers the BEAD program, is expected to announce how much each state will get from the $42.5 billion fund on June 30. However, before the funds are delivered, states must submit a detailed 5-Year Action Plan and an “Initial Proposal” on how they will spend the money. The funds will not be available until the Initial Proposal is approved by NTIA. The Initial Proposal deadline is expected to be the end of 2023, with NTIA taking many months of back-and-forth “curing” before approval sometime in spring of 2024. At that point, states will be able to start their programs to select applicants to receive the funding, which may be able to break ground toward the end of 2024.
Given the time it takes to build new networks, areas in the state without access to broadband could very well have to wait five years or more for service that has become nearly as vital as clean water and electricity.
It is that scenario that led the PSC to make the case that because BEAD dollars will be disbursed slowly, state funding is vital to help meet the urgent demand for ubiquitous broadband access now, noting how in the state budget from last year, the state had 194 applications for broadband projects that totalled close to $500 million. But given the limited funds, the state was only able to fund 71 of those projects, spending about $125 million.
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The PSC further noted that Wisconsin could potentially bridge the digital divide in the state with a combination of BEAD funds and the funds proposed by the governor – a point that seemingly fell on deaf ears.
Democratic lawmakers acknowledged as much, arguing that by waiting for BEAD funds it would unnecessarily delay the building of vital infrastructure and hurt the state’s economic prospects. After the vote, State Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, told Wisconsin Public Radio:
“There are parts of our state that are shrinking. They're losing people. If Internet access is not expanded, if those communities don't have access, they will continue to shrink. People will leave and they will not go home. Because they cannot connect to the world.”
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