Funding Secured for Extensive Broadband Infrastructure Construction in El Paso and All Points of the Lone Star State

Metro El Paso and the entirety of Texas is expected to see a significant increase in broadband infrastructure construction as a result of a ballot question that voters have approved by a better than two-to-one margin.

Proposition 8 asked voters to create a standing broadband infrastructure fund with $1.5 billion to be allocated to expand internet availability.

Just under 70% of voters approved the proposition, one of fourteen ballot questions decided by Texas voters. Twelve propositions were approved by anywhere from 53% to 84% of the vote, with only one question, calling for increasing the mandatory retirement age of judges to 79 years old from the current 75, which failed.

The broadband question made it to the ballot after members of the Texas State Legislature last spring gave their approval to the unprecedented $1.5 billion fund, sending it to the November ballot for ratification.

At the time of the legislation, Representative Trent Ashby, sponsor of the funding legislation, remarked that the bill represented a “historic investment in connectivity infrastructure to meet the technological demands of the future.”

Ashby additionally said that the legislation, creating what is called the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund, “reaffirms our belief that all Texans deserve access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.”

According to state figures, up to 8 million homes in Texas currently lack access to broadband, with 3 million individuals unable to use the vital technology.

An earlier analysis conducted by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance concluded that four of the five least-connected cities in the country are located in Texas. That survey showed that 15% of households in El Paso lacked broadband access.

​By Garry Boulard

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