Nebraska broadband chief dishes on bureaucratic roadblocks for mapping and BEAD

Patrick Redmond, Nebraska’s interim broadband director, described his workspace as “an office of one.” Given the Nebraska Broadband Office was just created in January 2023, he said “there’s a big learning curve” in tackling the broadband landscape. One order of business is to get the state’s broadband maps up and running. Redmond said Nebraska has been working with a vendor since February 2023 to develop a map prototype. Nebraska aims to create a map that will “overlay every single funding source that targets broadband here in the state.” But tracking the map’s progress is tricky, as Redmond pointed out the Nebraska Public Service Commission – not the state broadband office – is in charge of creating and maintaining the map. However, the state legislation introduced in January 2023 aims to shift mapping responsibilities to Redmond’s office. Once passed, the bill will also allow the state broadband office to leverage funds from the $42.5 billion Broadband, Access, Equity, and Deployment (BEAD) program. But Redmond noted the structure of Nebraska’s legislature has slowed down the process of getting the legislation across the finish line. It isn’t Nebraska’s only legislative roadblock for broadband. State law currently prohibits municipal entities from providing broadband. Nebraska’s legislature, in January 2023, introduced a bill that would alleviate those restrictions, but no action has been taken on it thus far.