Comments are due by 12 p.m. Friday on the 13-page draft, which was issued late Tuesday and which council members considered for the first time Wednesday at their monthly meeting — the seventh so far this year.
Council Chair Amy Tong, state chief information officer and director of the California Department of Technology (CDT), told those assembled on Zoom that the plan, due by Dec. 31, may not immediately satisfy everyone’s needs, but described it as a “living document” with “continuous monitoring.”
“Even though there are goals that are being set up for a duration of time, we’re not going to be able to address this overnight, so there’s going to be definitely a performance measure that is going to be laid out as part of the continual creation of this,” Tong said, reminding attendees of its annual review. Among the takeaways:
- The document calls broadband a “need-to-have,” not a “nice-to-have,” and points out it’s used to scale digital government services and empower the swift delivery of public safety information as well as powering “our ability to be the No. 1 state in the country for remote work.” But too many residential households still lack high-speed broadband, the authors wrote, noting that “94.9 percent access to speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps) or higher leaves 673,730 households that do not have access to broadband at those speeds,” with large concentrations in rural areas. Newsom’s August Executive Order, which directed the plan’s creation, set 100 mbps as the minimum download speed goal that state agencies under his authority should pursue. Worsening fire seasons have highlighted the “limited requirements” for redundant or hardened infrastructure that broadband providers must meet — and the risk that access may fail due to public safety power shutoffs or damage. Broadband market prices are kept high by a lack of competition; and poor, rural and minority communities are “more likely to have poor access” to high-speed broadband.
- The plan sets a vision of “digital equity for all,” and sets three goals of ensuring “high-performance broadband” in the home; that residents have affordable broadband and the devices they need to access the Internet; and that they have the training and support to achieve digital inclusion. During 14 feedback events on the plan thus far, officials have heard from more than 600 attendees representing about 150 organizations, said Stephanie Tom, CDT deputy director for Broadband and Digital Literacy. The council will embark on these goals in 2021, with support from Tom’s office “in the ongoing assessment and progress of current and future plans.”
“The introduction as you will see … is very much anchored in the lived experience of real Californians,” CDT Chief Strategist Justin Cohan-Shapiro told CBC members, pointing out that COVID-19 has elevated the importance of broadband “as students are learning from home, Californians are working from home and we’re also beginning to accelerate trends like telemedicine throughout the context of the pandemic.” - In its first goal of high-speed home broadband, the plan recommends modernizing speed and performance standards — “to define ‘broadband’ as, at least, matching the FCC standards of 25/3, if not increasing to reflect demonstrated needs (25/17)” and prioritizing funding for projects “that will deliver at least 100 mbps down/10mbps up.” On funding, the goal recommends exploring “alternative grant-making models similar to other state models,” enabling state grant programs to be leveraged for federal funding matching with priority for unserved and underserved areas; and prioritizing in local jurisdictions deployments that have state funding “where the government has streamlined the process for permitting and obtaining land use approvals.” It also recommends partnering with local governments and philanthropies on “alternative financing mechanisms for broadband deployments in unserved and underserved areas”; and promoting “existing state contractual vehicles” to achieve cost savings and efficient broadband services and equipment purchases by locals.
- The second goal of affordable broadband and devices to access the Internet recommends partnering with providers “to promote and track the adoption of affordable Internet offers”; requesting multiple language marketing to drive adoption “by leveraging existing private go to market campaigns and existing public programs” including CalFresh and Covered California; and improving the California LifeLine Program by offering “high-capacity, stand-alone broadband services” and ensuring all providers participate. The plan’s third goal around accessible training and support to drive digital inclusion recommends identifying opportunities for technical assistance “to include support for local governments, tribes, nonprofits and their partners” to leverage local, state, federal and private funding; convening stakeholders semi-annually to create new digital literacy tools and programs; and convening local government broadband coordinators and managers four times a year to “identify barriers” and actions taken. Authors also laid out two “cross-cutting actions that support all goals” — strengthen broadband data and mapping transparency and usability, including creating a Broadband for All portal to disseminate state broadband information; and leverage the state’s convening power, to better understand local government and private-sector broadband goals, priorities and roadblocks.
