California

Californians spend an average of $84 per month to connect to the internet—and some of the most vulnerable groups, including older adults, veterans and people with disabilities, tend to pay even more. So the state is spending billions of dollars to make broadband more affordable and available under its Broadband for All plan.

Up until last year, Nancy Navarro didn’t know how to check her kids’ grades or schedule online appointments. She had Wi-Fi at home so her 15 and 11-year-old kids could do their homework on their school-issued laptops, but she wasn’t online herself very often. But then she noticed that her kids’ school was offering free digital training classes through the local nonprofit EveryoneOn, which aims to connect as many underserved people as possible on the internet.

California can keep enforcing its state net neutrality law after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implements its own rules.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has accepted California’s Digital Equity plan. Using $4,001,520.00 from the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program, California created a plan aimed at addressing disparities in digital access, skills and affordability across the state.  

The Affordable Connectivity Program is ending and California has a monumental, once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead our communities into a new era of equitable affordable connectivity, not unlike the electrification of the United States in the early-to-mid 1900s. Internet affordability in California, like much of the country, relies on the goodwill of profit-driven Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and family enrollment in the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a subsidy program whose

California's Broadband Loan Loss Reserve Fund is a $500 million fund that provides a credit enhancement related to the financing of local broadband infrastructure development. The reserve fund expands the ability of local governments, tribes and non-profits to secure financing for building last-mile projects, with an emphasis on public broadband networks. The Fund will provide collateral to local governments to enable more favorable borrowing rates and terms for bonds issued to deploy broadband infrastructure. The Fund was established in 2021. The benefits of the Fund include:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) delivered a $7 million boost for high-speed internet projects in rural communities across the state. The newest multi-million-dollar grant award is a continuation of the CPUC’s work to support California’s Broadband For All initiative. Funding will go to three projects:

The COVID-19 pandemic made digital access an educational necessity and highlighted California’s longstanding digital divide—defined as disparities in reliable access to internet and digital devices. In spring 2020, when schools shifted abruptly to distance learning, only 68% of households with school-age children had reliable access to digital devices.