Senate Bill Could Free Up Billions More Broadband Bucks

The Senate has passed the bipartisan State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act, which could free up potentially hundreds of billions more for broadband buildout. States got $1.9 trillion in Congress's COVID-19 rescue legislation in 2021, specifically to deal with the loss of revenues due to COVID-19. But the Associated Press reported that more than half a trillion dollars of that had yet to be spent. The just-passed bill would expand the places all that money could go, allowing states to use up to 30% of their respective allocations not yet spent for infrastructure projects, including broadband. It would also allow 100% of unspent funds to be spent on disaster recovery, which could also implicate broadband in the case of damaged communications infrastructure.