Texas lawmakers want more broadband. Here's how they propose to bridge the digital divide.

After the Legislature’s historic investments in broadband infrastructure in 2021, state leaders continue to prioritize bridging the digital divide in this session.

House Bill 9 was designated as a priority by House Speaker Dade Phelan and would provide the broadband infrastructure fund $5 billion on top of the $5 billion granted to increase broadband last session. Reinvesting in broadband access would benefit more than rural Texas, supporters of the bill said last week during a meeting of the House State Affairs Committee.

“I stand before you seeking to redouble our commitment to closing the digital divide in Texas through a bold and ambitious investment in broadband and telecommunication infrastructure,” said Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, who filed HB 9.

“This bill will have a measurable and positive impact on each one of our respective districts — rural, urban and suburban,” Ashby said.

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Rural households were 86% of the 500,000 households lacking broadband service in 2020, according to a report by the Governor's Broadband Development Council.

More than 15% of households lacked broadband in five Central Texas counties (Bastrop, Fayette, Lee, Caldwell and Mason), according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates from 2017 to 2021.

While areas of rural Texas still lack the infrastructure to provide residents with high-speed internet access, only 5% of people lacking broadband surveyed in 2020 listed “services not available” as their barrier to high-speed internet, according to the Texas comptroller’s website. The majority of respondents said cost prevented them from obtaining a broadband subscription.

Financial barriers cause broadband access issues in urban areas of the state, according to the Texas comptroller’s website. Brownsville, the 18th-largest city in Texas, was ranked as the least connected community in the United States, Mayor Trey Mendez said.

Between 2017 and 2021, more than 8% of Travis County households lacked a broadband internet subscription, according to census data.

Travis County has the infrastructure to provide broadband to every household, but about 5,500 households are still “underserved,” meaning they cannot access maximum speeds of 100/20 Mbps, according to the Texas Broadband Development Map.

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The Texas comptroller’s office received $363 million of federal funding to boost high-speed internet infrastructure this year. Despite that, additional money is needed to connect the entire state, said Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

"I don't think there'll be more federal dollars,” Hegar said. “To be able to truly connect the state up, we're going to have to have that additional investment.”

Polling from February showed 88% of Texas voters view maximizing the federal money for broadband expansion as an important task for the Legislature this session, said Mitrah Avini, a policy analyst for Texas 2036 who testified in support of HB 9.

HB 2662 which would align state broadband mapping and data tracking standards with federal guidelines, also was discussed during Wednesday’s committee meeting. Keeping up with federal standards would help Texas receive federal funding for broadband infrastructure, Ashby said.

HB 5, which provided $5 billion for broadband last session, passed with a unanimous vote in the Senate in 2021.

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More than 80 representatives have signed on to HB 9. Both HB 9 and House Joint Resolution 125, a proposed constitutional amendment establishing the Broadband Infrastructure Fund, have representatives from both parties listed as co-authors.

“I don't know if you have noticed we got a record cash carryover balance that we've never had before,” Hegar said. “Broadband is a good investment.”

HB 5, HJR 125 and HB 2662 were all left pending in the State Affairs Committee.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature: House bills seek to increase broadband, set up fund