Editor’s note: Voters have amended the Texas Constitution 517 times since 1876, and they will get the chance again Nov. 7. This is the eighth of a series of Tribune-Herald articles examining the intention and implications of the 14 amendments on the ballot.
In this technology-driven world, where students learn, farmers grow and the general public chats and conducts business via the internet, it would seem broadband access has become an inalienable right.
Life, liberty and 25-megabits-per-second download availability, at the very least, has become essential to happiness in some quarters. Sometime in the future, we will tell our grandkids that in Texas, in 2023, an estimated 7 million people were doing without broadband internet access, according to census data. Proposition 8, a proposed constitutional amendment Texans will consider Nov. 7, aims to address what some view as a shortcoming.
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Specifically, the proposal creates a broadband infrastructure fund of $1.5 billion to expand high-speed internet availability.
“These dollars would help pay to develop and finance broadband and telecommunications services as well as 911 services,” according to reporting in The Texas Tribune. “The fund will also provide matching funds with federal money from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program.”
Broadband scarcity is most acute in rural Texas, so it should come as no surprise the Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau supports Proposition 8.
Texas Farm Bureau spokesperson Gary Joiner confirmed the organization’s interest in seeing high-speed internet coverage stretch from El Paso to Nacogdoches and Amarillo to Eagle Pass, and everywhere in between.
“The fund would be administered by the Comptroller’s Broadband Development Office, along with the Public Utility Commission,” Joiner said. “The funding would only be used for efforts aimed at the expansion of broadband services and fully funding the Texas Universal Service Fund.”
State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, R-Waco, who has advocated for broadband expansion during his time in the Texas Legislature since 2004, said during a phone interview he cannot overstate the importance of passing Proposition 8.
“It actually is part of the broadband plan established a couple of sessions ago,” Anderson said. “The goal is to have available and affordable high-speed internet service, and this is a means to help Texas fund that. It also helps us reach more federal money when they see we’re up and running and getting things started.”
Anderson said Texas lawmakers passed “middle-mile” legislation to smooth the transition to possibly having $1.5 billion available.
“It involves utilizing existing lines, right-of-ways and poles to help broadband companies get started a little quicker while this fund is coming into fruition,” Anderson said.
House Joint Resolution 125 puts the amendment on the ballot, and House Bill 9 lays out the details of the fund.
He said he hopes voters approve the measure.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed and definitely promoting it,” Anderson said. “There are 14 propositions to be voted on. Some incur costs and some don’t. When voters see that $1.5 billion and other propositions with a price, they may say, ‘nope, nope, nope.’ But this is super important for the entire state, even Waco, where people do not have reliable service. High-speed internet opens business up to the entire world market, and then there are the medical and educational aspects to be considered.”
K. Paul Holt, president and CEO of the local Associated General Contractors of America office, said the organization eagerly endorses Proposition 8.
“In a word, Yes!!!,” Holt wrote in an email. “That will help virtually all homes, but it also should enhance job site capabilities as well. Rep. Doc Anderson’s bill reminds me of the federal Rural Electrification Act of 1936 that brought electricity out of the cities and all over the country. The internet has become as indispensable as electricity in today’s world.”
The Texas Comptroller’s Office prepared an analysis of internet needs in Texas in the wake of Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s Broadband Listening Tour last year.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar talks about gathering public input on broadband expansion in Texas. Hegar’s office is conducting a survey that can be filled out here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Texas-BDO-2022 | More information: https://comptroller.texas.gov/programs/broadband/ | Video source: Texas Comptroller’s Office
“The pandemic highlighted the critical need for reliable, affordable access to broadband for remote work, education, health care and civic engagement,” according to a comptroller’s office post. “Many Texans, especially in rural areas, lack access to broadband service that meets the minimum speed requirements of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload.
“According to experts, it takes 0-5 Mbps to check email, stream music on one device and search the internet. Downloading large files and streaming video on one device requires 5-40 Mbps. The U.S. Census Bureau reports 93.9 percent of Texas households had a computer, but only 86.9 percent had a broadband internet subscription in 2017-2021.”
Congress in 2021 created the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program to stimulate internet expansion. Texas was promised $3.3 billion, the most of any state, and Texas’ Broadband Development Office predicted it would begin accepting grant applications in 2024. Eligible applicants would include internet service providers, political subdivisions and public-private partnerships interested in developing broadband infrastructure.
Ray Perryman, a Waco-based economist with a national and international clientele, chaired the infrastructure segment of a state task force on COVID-19, “and broadband service was far and away the biggest need identified by residents throughout Texas,” he said by email.
“The need for access to broadband is clear,” Perryman said. “What was once viewed as a luxury is now an important aspect of infrastructure.”
Texas’ size poses challenges to providing high-speed internet service statewide, though residents of the state’s far-flung outposts and rural areas probably need it more than most, as they lack close proximity to education, training and medical specialists, Perryman said. Farmers and ranchers “are increasingly reliant on connectivity for everything from commodity price monitoring to the use of sensors,” he said.
More remote areas “are not generally attractive for private companies in comparison with densely populated urban centers,” he said.
“Proposition 8 would facilitate getting Texans the fast, reliable internet they need,” Perryman said.
Texas broadband development map released: The initial version is receiving skepticism from Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who’s office oversees the BDO.
