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Wide support from advocates, fiscal caution from agencies on digital‑equity bill

House Appropriations Committee · February 6, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Testimony on substitute HB 23‑65 centered on expanding the broadband office’s role in digital equity, formalizing the Digital Equity Forum, and directing ISPs to share low‑cost plan data. Rural advocates urged passage for access; Commerce flagged multi‑FTE staffing and NGFO operating impacts.

A substitute to House Bill 23‑65, described to the committee as a digital equity update, prompted broad stakeholder testimony and fiscal questions from staff. Nonpartisan staff told lawmakers the bill expands the state Broadband Office’s purpose to include digital equity, requires reporting on progress for the state digital equity plan (subject to appropriation in the second substitute) and clarifies duties for the Digital Equity Forum and a renamed…

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