States are exploring new approaches to maintain broadband affordability for low-income households.
Source: Broadband Breakfast
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2025 — With the federal Affordable Connectivity Program winding down, states are exploring new approaches to maintain broadband affordability for low-income households, according to panelists at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event Wednesday.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks called the ACP "the most effective program I have ever seen for helping low-income Americans get online and stay online." The program, which is ending due to lack of Congressional funding, served over 23 million American households.
"No American should go without a connection because of cost," Starks said, noting the program's "universal appeal" across red and blue states. The top 10 states for ACP enrollment included California, New York, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Illinois.
California State Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner, who chairs the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee, introduced AB 353, currently a placeholder bill that would create an affordability broadband mandate.
"We have to set a rate that is affordable for households so they are connected," Boerner said, while noting separate concerns about funding mechanisms that don't unfairly burden those just above eligibility thresholds.
The discussion highlighted various state-level approaches, most notably New York's mandate requiring providers to offer $15 broadband plans. Massachusetts, Mississippi and Oregon have also introduced legislation aimed at expanding broadband affordability programs in the absence of ACP.
However, experts noted that while state programs might help fill the gap, they lack the efficiency of the federal program's enrollment system and national verification database.
Yusuf Nekzad, legislative director for Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Illinois, detailed previous Congressional efforts to save the program, including a bipartisan bill that gained support from both parties but ultimately wasn't brought to the floor by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana.
"Should this product have been presented on the house floor at any point last Congress, we would have had a large amount of Democrats if not all Democrats voting in favor, as well as those Republicans who have been friendly to the program," Nekzad said.
Drew Garner, director of public policy engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, cited research showing the ACP's economic benefits could help the program "pay for itself."
"The ACP had benefited everyone, not just people who were on the program, but everyone because it drove infrastructure," Garner said. He noted that the program encouraged ISPs to build in areas with high program eligibility.
Justin Faulb, chief of staff to Commissioner Starks, emphasized the program's importance to vulnerable populations, citing examples of seniors and veterans who relied on affordable broadband for healthcare and basic services.
He also cited a study that showed telehealth could potentially save "$15-17 billion" when calculated across Medicaid, Medicare and Veterans Affairs users.
The event occurred as states nationwide are grappling with maintaining broadband affordability amid the ACP's expiration, with some experts suggesting that Universal Service Fund reform could provide a long-term solution at the federal level.