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Commerce briefs committee on broadband rollout, workforce and industry outreach
Summary
The Department of Commerce told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee it is deploying state broadband funds, administering federally funded capital projects and preparing for deployment of a roughly $580 million BEAD allocation to connect unserved and underserved Idaho homes and businesses.
Brooke Dupree, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, presented the Department of Commerce’s budget and highlighted the newly created broadband office and recent federal and state broadband funding.
Dupree said the department’s broadband office was created in the previous legislative session to increase transparency for broadband spending; the office is funded in part by state transfers and federal grants. Key funds and status items presented to the committee included a $35 million Idaho Broadband Fund (state general fund transfer) with about $26.5 million already obligated and roughly $8.5 million remaining; a $120 million capital fund that is contracted to 18 projects connecting about 35,000 homes and businesses; and a roughly $580 million Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program…
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