Petrichor Broadband Manager Joe Poire testified today before the Washington Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee on a bill addressing Public Works Board (PWB) broadband infrastructure loans and grants.
Senate Bill 5580 would modify the loan-grant program by:
- Requiring the PWB to publish proposed geographic broadband service areas and speeds for submitted broadband service expansion grant and loan program applications for at least 30 days
- Removing the requirement for the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) to provide an assessment of the technical feasibility of a proposed application
- Authorizing the PWB to make low-interest or interest-free loans or grants for certain emergency public works broadband projects
- Exempting program applications from public disclosure
Poire testified the proposed emergency projects fund would be invaluable to communities facing hardship across Washington State. He recalled the 2020 Labor Day fires in Malden, Washington (pop: 209) that decimated about 80% of the town.
“We are constructing [open-access dark fiber infrastructure] in Whitman County this year – in the City of Malden,” Poire said. “If we would have started about a year and a half earlier, we would have lost the whole fiber plant to the fire.”
Poire also praised the proposed removal of rules requiring the PWB to consult with the UTC and consider its assessment of an application’s technical feasibility as part of the PWB’s application evaluation process.
“We noticed in our previous consultations that some of the recommendations that were made were not aligned with the way the grant was proposed, so this will help us with a lot of clarity,” he said.
Although Petrichor Broadband supports these refinements in the PWB program, we maintain that PWB is a wonderful champion of broadband expansion to underserved communities in Washington State. Thank you to the bill sponsors, Senators Lisa Wellman, Mark Mullet, David Frockt, Patty Kuderer, Joe Nguyen, Judy Warnick and Claire Wilson, for ensuring the PWB program best serves your communities.