Purpose
Accelerate last‑mile broadband in rural and underserved areas while standing up local workforce hubs that train, certify, and place residents
in high‑demand broadband and technology jobs. Every dollar, mile built, and job created is tracked on a public dashboard with enforcement,
milestones, and clawbacks.
Key benefits for rural communities
- Real access: Universal, reliable high‑speed service with performance standards (speed and latency) that support work, school, and telehealth.
- Lower costs: Open‑access “spillover” rules drive competition and reduce prices for households and small businesses.
- Local jobs: Workforce hubs deliver paid apprenticeships, stackable certifications, and direct placement with local ISPs and co‑ops.
- Faster builds: Milestone‑based schedules, time‑boxed permitting, and use‑it‑or‑lose‑it funding keep projects on track.
- Transparency: County‑level dashboards show builds, connections, outages, costs, and training outcomes in plain view.
Main components
1) Infrastructure
- Last‑mile grants: 75% federal share (up to 90% in high‑need counties) for fiber or fixed‑wireless builds to unserved/underserved areas.
- Open‑access spillover: Federally backed middle‑mile must offer excess capacity to local ISPs at cost with published SLAs.
- Adoption & affordability: Support tied to delivered performance and digital skills completion.
2) Workforce hubs
- Hub‑in‑a‑box: Convert underused public facilities into training sites for fiber splicing, tower work, network ops, and field tech roles.
- Paid apprenticeships: Local hiring pipelines with co‑ops, ISPs, and manufacturers; verified job placement metrics.
- Stackable credentials: Industry‑recognized certs aligned to employer demand in the district.
3) Radical transparency
- Public dashboards: Maps, take‑rates, speeds/latency, costs, milestones, and enforcement actions — updated quarterly and machine‑readable.
- Independent verification: Annual third‑party audits of reported performance and spending.
Funding and accountability
- Matching formula: Scales local match by cost per premise and rewards efficient designs and local hiring commitments.
- Milestones with teeth: Construction within 12 months; 50% connections by 24 months; 100% by 36 months.
- Clawbacks: Proportional repayment for missed milestones or misuse; publication of non‑compliance within 30 days.
- Audits & enforcement: Inspector General and GAO audit authority; DOJ civil enforcement for recovery.
How this differs from existing programs
- Harmonized, not duplicative: Aligns with BEAD and E‑Rate, but adds enforceable milestones, open‑access requirements, and unified reporting.
- Workforce built‑in: Ties training and apprenticeships directly to funded builds — not an afterthought.
- Public verification: Mandatory dashboards and third‑party audits at the project level, not just aggregate reports.
- Use‑it‑or‑lose‑it: Automatic clawbacks and reallocation to projects that can deliver on time.
Call to action
This bill is built for our rural communities: connect every home, train our people for good jobs, and show the proof in public.
If you’re tired of party promises and slow builds, stand with a plan that delivers mile‑by‑mile, job‑by‑job, in full public view.
Read my independence stance and how I bind my votes to verified constituents:
Why I’m Running as an Independent.
Want to help shape the rollout and hold me accountable?
Share your priorities and
join the rollout team.