Rural broadband development ‘moving forward,’ says Washington state USDA director

Washington state’s rural counties are the target of a litany of newly announced U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding programs aimed at improving the state’s infrastructure. One key component will be improving access to broadband internet in historically underserved rural communities.

“[Broadband] is happening; we are moving forward,” Helen Price Johnson told KIRO Newsradio’s Seattle’s Morning News. She is the newly appointed USDA director of rural development for Washington state.

“You’ll be hearing more about the resources that’ll be coming out soon to help expand broadband across the west,” she noted.

Rural broadband expansion has been a subject debated in the state Legislature for years. In 2019, SB 5511 passed, which placed requirements on the Public Works Board to establish competitive grant and loan programs aimed at promoting broadband in underserved areas. Price Johnson summarized some of the issues that have historically delayed that expansion.

“Part of it was that there was incorrect mapping by the [Federal Communications Commission],” she said. “They would show a place like Island County as being covered because a certain proportion of the population had access to internet, yet there were broad swaths of rural areas that didn’t and still don’t.”

Another issue has been the need for the federal government to subsidize the requisite infrastructure.

“There’s not enough connections per mile to make the bottom line for [broadband providers’] stock and their shareholders,” Price Johnson added. “These programs can come in to help to fill that gap. There’s been some changes in the laws that now allow some public entities to help with that. Those things have taken time. I really think we’re going to be making some progress in the next few years. That’s very exciting.”

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Price Johnson summarized a few other projects that will be a focus under her appointment, singling out access to health care and long-term care near the Olympic Peninsula and the Tri-Cities area.

“What I’m really excited about are the investments on the Key Peninsula in Pierce County. We will be building an elder care facility there, that’s going to let people age in place,” she said. “It’s a real remote area on the west side. [It’s a] beautiful, tree forested area, but they’ve been lacking ability to keep their elders in the community where they can age in place.”

“In Benton County, we’re going to be helping that community to build a new hospital, bring support services, and an educational facility with a $57 million loan,” she added.

Price Johnson styles herself as an advocate for the state’s rural communities, herself a native of Whidbey Island.

“[There has] been an extraction of wealth from from rural America to urban areas,” she said. “And actually, it’s when we work together that we all can thrive.”

“Rural families, rural businesses deserve to have access to health care and education … without having to move to an urban area or allow their area to become urbanized,” she continued. “We need to be able to provide that kind of vital infrastructure, regardless of where you live.”

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