Members passed an Action Plan Outline during a virtual meeting that Council Chair Amy Tong, state chief information officer and director of the California Department of Technology (CDT), described as “more of a draft outline so that we can get the ball rolling and with people assigned, so that the staff can get going.” Among the takeaways:
• The plan focuses on five main areas and five sub-areas, assigning state departments that are council members to prepare each with input from other members and the public. The five main areas of the plan are a letter to Newsom comprising its executive summary, assigned to CDT; the Vision for Broadband in California, assigned to members from the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and the California State Senate; the COVID-19 Impact, assigned to members from the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES); the Current State of Broadband, assigned to members from the California State Assembly and the California State Library; and How California Can Achieve the Vision, assigned to CDT.
• In these main topics, members will examine issues including the policy vision for broadband in California; the current access, deployment and adoption landscape, gaps and barriers; what needs to be done to provide broadband for all; how COVID-19 increased the digital equity gap and the need for broadband; and what broadband efforts have been accelerated due to COVID-19. However, Patrick Mallon, CalOES assistant director, cautioned against focusing on the pandemic too exclusively despite its historic toll and significance.
“While clearly, the COVID situation has highlighted the digital inequity, if this is a 10-year plan, I’m hoping that we don’t lose some of the emphasis on it being a 10-year plan by focusing on the immediacy of the pandemic,” Mallon said. Tong said it has been 10 years since the state last updated its Action Plan, but it’s not certain the plan now being crafted must be a 10-year plan — and other plans have had their durations reduced.
“For example, the state strategic plan for technology is reduced from five years to three with an annual update,” Tong said. “At a minimum, there’s going to be annual updates. I don’t want people to think that we need to think a decade long. I don’t know if that’s a hard deadline.”
• The plan’s five sub-areas are Modeling, Mapping and Data, assigned to members from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and CalOES; Tech Sufficiency, assigned to members from the California Department of General Services and CETF; Deployment, assigned to members from CPUC and the California State Transportation Agency; Adoption, assigned to members from CETF and the California Department of Education; and the Conclusion, assigned to CDT.
• Issues under examination here include what data the state has and what it needs to achieve broadband for all; what is the state’s preference and criteria for broadband technology and how that contributes toward the state’s broadband vision; the current state of broadband deployment and what the footprint looks like; how deployment will be prioritized; how the state and localities can support and contribute to broadband adoption; and how the plan supports next steps.
