Senate committee hears testimony to renew State Universal Communication Services program to aid rural phone and broadband providers

Senate Bill 5,055 would renew Washington’s State Universal Communication Services Program and expand the program’s stated purposes and eligible uses to include broadband deployment and reliability for public safety, telemedicine, distance learning and public libraries.

The committee heard from Alicia Kinney Clawson, staff to the committee, who summarized the bill. "The program expired in 2024," she said, "and the bill before you renews the program through July first of 2027 and modifies the program purposes, allowable fund uses, and eligible telecommunication service providers." The bill also would lower the population threshold used to define eligible incumbent providers from 40,000 access lines to 20,000 access lines and add…