Joint Appropriations advances $87 million federal authority to connect 7,060 unserved South Dakota locations
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Summary
The joint committee voted to advance House Bill 1048, which requests $87 million in federal fund expenditure authority tied to a $207 million BEED allocation to connect roughly 7,060 unserved locations, after presenters and proponents stressed lower per-location costs under recent federal procurement changes.
The Joint Committee on Appropriations advanced House Bill 1048 on a voice and roll-call vote after hearing a presentation from Jack Valentine, operations division director at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Valentine told the committee the bill seeks $87,000,000 in federal fund expenditure authority against a $207,000,000 allocation from the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEED) program to reach about 7,060 unserved locations across South Dakota. “For these 7,060 unserved locations across the state … the cost per location would have been approximately $1,717,000,” he said, adding that recent procurement changes reduced that figure to “approximately $12,300 per location.”
Proponents including AARP South Dakota and several private providers said expanded broadband is necessary for health care, education and economic opportunity in rural areas. Eric Nelson of AARP described high usage among older residents and asked the committee to “support the bill before you today.” Industry representatives such as Justin Smith of Midcontinent Communications said broader connectivity benefits consumers and the free market.
Committee members questioned the administration about costs and technology. Senators and representatives pressed Valentine on the relative merits of fiber-to-the-premises versus low-earth-orbit satellite services such as Starlink or Amazon Kuiper; Valentine said consumer terminals cost roughly $400 but the full-service constellation requires extensive satellite deployment and operating costs. He also explained that GOED plans to retain a dedicated grants-management FTE paid from federal funds.
Senator Vilhauer moved a do-pass recommendation; the motion passed on roll call, advancing the bill. Committee chairs assigned House and Senate carriers for floor action and scheduled follow-up work. The committee did not adopt any amendments to the bill during the hearing.
Next steps: HB 1048 will move to floor consideration in its respective chamber(s) with committee carriers named at the hearing.