Supervisors approve grant application for remote internet access

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Federal Communications Commission has an Emergency Connectivity Fund to provide funding to schools and libraries for laptop computers and wireless internet "hot spots," and the County of San Diego will be seeking $5,000,000 from that fund.

A 4-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Sept. 15, with Joel Anderson ill and unable to participate in the meeting, approved the grant application. If the grant is approved a subsequent board of supervisors action will appropriate that funding.

"I think this is great," said Supervisor Jim Desmond.

The County Library department is considering expansion of its internet service program so that customers can access the internet from their own homes without having to be physically present at a library or having to use a modem or other internet utility service. The U.S. Department of Commerce agencies include the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which estimates that 7,431 households in the County Library service area (which includes 11 cities under contract with the county as well as the unincorporated communities) have neither internet access nor a mobile phone or computer which can access the internet. Those households include 523 in Fallbrook, 51 in Bonsall, 39 in Pauma Valley, and 38 in San Luis Rey.

"That's a big need, particularly in the unincorporated areas," Desmond said.

"We all know how important it is to close the digital divide," said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated $7.17 billion for the Emergency Connectivity Fund program. The program will cover up to $400 per laptop computer and $250 per wireless internet "hot spot." The program also includes a one-year data access plan covering the mobile hot spot services, and once that one-year plan ends the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program which subsidizes costs for telecommunications and internet access for K-12 schools and libraries and currently funds 85% to 90% of the county's internet service costs will fund the continued costs for internet access (the County Library operational budget will fund the rest of the costs). After one year the county will review how the program has addressed the needs in its service area and may be able to extend loan periods for service equipment and data access plans.

The Emergency Connectivity Fund program doesn't specify eligibility requirements. "It seems like the way it's written it's a free-for-all," Desmond said. "There's no verification or vetting."

Eligibility is automatically established for schools and libraries which participate in the E-rate program. The county will work with school districts and community groups to ensure that the neediest recipients receive the computers and internet access.

"I want to make sure it's going to the households with the most needs," Desmond said.