Legislation is working its way through Congress that would provide incentives to companies to expand internet connectivity in rural North Carolina.
The American Broadband Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of Fayetteville and serving North Carolina’s 8th District, has thrown support behind a multi-pronged package that would “create two grant programs worth $20 billion and $3 billion respectively to help local providers deploy broadband to underserved and unserved communities,” according to material released last week by Hudson’s staff.
"This pandemic has exposed new haves and have-nots in America — those with access to the internet and those without it," Hudson said in a prepared statement. "As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I am determined to help close the digital divide and expand access to broadband across rural communities in North Carolina and around the country. I look forward to advancing my bipartisan and commonsense legislation."
Hudson's legislation establishes two grant programs at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that would provide funding over five years. The grant programs would require the administration to use Federal Communications Commission maps showing unserved and rural areas needing federal broadband. 
Additionally, the act would “promote public-private partnerships that have streamlined their permitting process so that federal support pays for broadband expansion, not red tape,” Hudson said.
The proposed legislation, which includes 26 separate sections, provides detail on how the programs would be carried out.
Hudson's legislation, which was announced by Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, and Communications and Technology Republican Leader Robert Latta, R-Ohio, and includes the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act.
Key elements of the act:
Establishing the broadband expansion grant program authorizes $20 billion over five years for the NTIA to carry out the grant program based on the Federal Communications Commission data and award grants to “partnerships between private industry and state and local governments” to avoid bogging the program in regulations and other red tape. Likewise the “Mobile Broadband Expansion Grant Program” establishes a grant to expand wireless broadband in rural America, authorizing $3 billion over five years to ensure broadband support reaches “truly unserved areas and is not used to fund wasteful overbuilding.” 
Other sections of the legislation address the permitting process of public and private entities to ensure the programs take place “in a timely manner.”
Still other sections include requirements to use or modify existing infrastructure such as towers and cable networks. It also outlines penalties for damaging any part of the infrastructure.
The proposed legislation went to committee for discussion last week and is expected to be introduced on the House floor within the next few days or weeks, according to Hudson’s staff. Assuming the legislation survives debate on the floor, the Senate will get a chance to propose its own legislation on the issue.
Hudson’s staff told the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal on Friday that the proposed legislation should see little pushback from Democrats individually or by the Senate as a whole, since the issue appeared to enjoy bipartisan support.
How much funding comes to North Carolina has not yet been determined, however North Carolina has about 1.1 million households that “lack access to high-speed internet,” according to the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT).
Also last week, officials from NCDIT said Gov. Roy Cooper has proposed investing an additional $1.2 billion in federal American Rescue Plan dollars to “close the digital gap,” which includes providing infrastructure, access, affordability and digital literacy.