How California’s Broadband Infrastructure Law Promotes Local Choice

California's legislative session has ended and Governor Newsom is expected to sign into law S.B.4 and A.B.14, the final pieces of the state’s new broadband infrastructure program. With a now-estimated $7.5 billion assembled between federal and state funds, the state has the resources it needs to largely close its digital divide in the coming years. The infrastructure law has four mechanisms in place to help finance and plan new, local options: a grant program for the unserved; long-term financing designed around public, non-profit, and tribal entities; a state-run middle-mile program; and a state technical assistance program. Let’s get into the weeds on each of them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation explains why local communities need to take charge, how the new law will facilitate local choice in broadband, and the benefits of fiber optic internet as future-proof infrastructure. No state has taken this broadband funding approach yet and departed from the old model of handing over all the subsidies to giant corporations. That’s why it’s important for Californians to understand the opportunity before them now.

[Ernesto Falcon is Senior Legislative Counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.]