Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar this week released his agency’s Texas Broadband Plan supporting the expansion of internet access for underserved or unserved Texans.
The plan offered few specifics except to say that by early next year the Broadband Development Office will establish a Texas broadband program that complies with federal grant requirements, publish a broadband availability map and manage coordination among stakeholder groups, Hegar’s office said in a statement.
U.S. Census Bureau data shows nearly 2.8 million Texas households lack broadband access. Twenty-three percent of Texans have limited ability to attend virtual classes, see a health care provider remotely, fill out a job application online, start a business or access online marketplaces. The problem disproportionately affects rural communities and low-income families.
Hegar and staff members conducted 60 virtual roundtable discussions, received more than 16,000 survey responses and held a dozen public town halls.
“We developed this plan to be useful, insightful and sound as a road map for improvement. This is a monumental task, and we must work together to accomplish it,” Hegar said. “Expanding broadband access will require collaboration and partnerships between local governments and private entities, across counties and among residents.”
The 87th Texas Legislature created the Broadband Development Office at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The BDO is charged with broadband expansion, which includes establishing an official statewide plan for expanding access.
The legislature appropriated $5 million to the comptroller’s office to administer the program. Additionally, the American Rescue Plan Act enacted by the federal government has allocated $500.5 million to Texas for broadband expansion, while the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will allocate at least $100 million.
Many cities in the state have initiated their own assessment of broadband availability.
Harlingen, for example, announced in October it would fund a $100,000 survey to determine how best to improve broadband access for as many as 8,000 Harlingen residents who reported they had no access to the internet in the 2019 Census American Community Survey.
