It only took a global pandemic, a year spent working and studying at home and a once-in-a-generation spending blitz from the federal government, but 2021 might be the year that California finally goes big on broadband.
Expanding internet access has long been a cause that lawmakers of all stripes — Democrat and Republican, rural and urban — have been happy to get behind. Few, however, have been willing to actually prioritize it.
That might change this year, just so long as politics and industry resistance don’t get in the way.
This time, there’s plenty of money to throw at the problem, there’s an undeniable sense of urgency to act and there’s commitment to the cause coming from both the governor’s office and legislative leadership.