National Governors Association

Governors are taking steps to advance workforce innovation, broadband access and digital skills in America’s workforce.

Digital skills – the skills associated with technology that enable users to find, evaluate, organize, create, and communicate information – are ubiquitous throughout the workforce. Today’s changing labor market indicates that there is a critical need for action to ensure all workers gain the skills needed to meaningfully participate in work and life. The Digital Equity Act (DEA), a provision within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, includes a historic federal investment to promote digital equity, literacy, and inclusion.

Building upon the success of the first phase of the National Governors Association’s Workforce Innovation Network (NGA WIN), the NGA Center for Best Practices announced the addition of six new state grantees to the network. NGA WIN will award Hawaiʻi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island up to $100,000 each and provide technical assistance to help state teams ensure all individuals have the digital skills needed to participate in work, education or training.

In their 2021 State of the State addresses, at least 40 Governors highlighted the importance of broadband infrastructure and the interconnections with remote learning and telemedicine. These are critical to closing equity gaps and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis. Expanding the physical infrastructure of the internet is only part of the challenge of extending access and connectivity to broadband services across the country.

Governors have championed the importance of increasing affordable broadband access and play a critical role in expanding access to services via telehealth, both in providing emergency connections during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and paving the way for enhanced and broader service in the years ahead. Many governors have enhanced health care services via telehealth by using a combination of the following strategies:

Immediately following the onset of the pandemic and the shift to virtual learning, many Governors initiated or supported short-term solutions to access to broadband and computers. However, states must prioritize investment in the expansion of sustainable and affordable broadband infrastructure in order to permanently close the digital divide. Governors are at the forefront of this effort and have started this year by proposing record levels of investment in broadband infrastructure, with 36 Governors calling attention to the need for increased access in their State of the State addresses.

As Governors continue to deliver their State of the State Addresses, expanding affordable, high-speed internet access has emerged as a key priority for states and territories in 2021.

Increasing access to the internet and improving the affordability of broadband services has been a long-standing priority for governors; more than twenty states now have dedicated broadband offices to address the digital divide while more have robust governance structures that include task forces, working groups, and committees.

A coalition of organizations representing state and local governments released the following statement in response to hearings on the FY 2021 Budget Request for Federal Communication Commission before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on March 10 and before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on March 11: