The E-BRIDGE Act, which aims to ease the deployment of rural broadband, became law on January 4 as part of the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (S. 4367).
E-BRIDGE is an acronym for Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility. It “removes hurdles” for broadband projects made with Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants. This includes last-mile construction that can delay projects. It also ensures that local communities can partner with private businesses and increases flexibility in how communities comply with funding match requirements.
The initiative goes back several years. On March 23, 2023 — during the 118th Congress — E-BRIDGE legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), representatives Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), Tracey Mann (R-KS), and Michael Guest (R-MS).
The press release says that Graves had introduced the legislation in the House during the 116th (2019-2020) and 117th (2021-2022) Congresses as well.
“The E-BRIDGE Act has been an ongoing priority of mine for the last six years, and I’m extremely pleased to finally see it being signed into law,” Graves said in the press release issued by his office.
“Unfortunately, too many of our communities, particularly in rural America, still lack broadband access. In some cases, just completing that ‘last mile’ is what stands in the way of connecting people to a job they need. The E-BRIDGE Act will help spur projects that attract jobs and businesses to expand economic development and opportunity in rural and poor communities.”
The E-BRIDGE Act comes as a tremendous amount of money is pouring into broadband. Earlier this week, Louisiana became the first state to have its BEAD final proposal approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the federal agency administering the rural broadband funding program. The state can now begin spending its allotted funding to cover some of the costs of deploying broadband.
