The Joint Committee on Technology and Infrastructure met this afternoon.
First, the committee heard an update from the Office of Broadband. The office had several projects in place with various funding sources, including the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the USDA Broadband Program, and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
BEAD, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, is projected to roll out in 2026. It has seen some challenges due to West Virginia’s mountainous topography, low population in rural areas, and pole attachment costs and delays. However, it is in the final proposal stage and has been approved by the federal government.
Some positives presented by the office include a 245% increase in access to fiber or cable infrastructure since 2019, an 83% increase in download speeds since 2022, and a 37% increase in upload speeds since 2022. West Virginia has led the U.S. in internet growth since 2023 and has been in the top six since 2017.
In 2026, along with the BEAD rollout, the office is looking forward to the completion of the ARPA project and the WVPSC pole attachment task force.
The committee also heard from the Contractors Association about highway safety in construction zones. West Virginia has had several construction worker deaths and injuries in work zones due to drivers not slowing down to the construction zone speed limit. In the last session, HB3117 would have allowed camera-assisted speed enforcement. However, the bill did not move because it would have allowed ticketing based on the photo and recorded speed, regardless of who was driving the vehicle. A new bill is expected to be introduced and will instead use a camera-based speeding alert to send a message to law enforcement at the end of the construction zone. The officer may pull the driver over and ticket them at this time. The camera was described as having blue lights and will help alert drivers to the presence of workers in the zone and to slow down or be pulled over.
