Remember the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which Congress passed to provide “additional relief to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals and businesses?” Remember how a lot of that almost $2 trillion ended up getting spent?

Sure, plenty of it fit the definition of what most expected public “covid money” would fund.

Some of it went toward swimming pools, event centers and any number of other use-it-or-lose-it projects that had us scratching our heads. It was all perfectly legal, and adhered to the federal government’s VERY loose “guidance” on what could be done with taxpayer dollars.

Now, West Virginia is asking for more guidance — this time on what to do with half of the $1.2 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program funding it received through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In one of the oldest, poorest, most rural states in the country, the number of households without access to quality, affordable broadband internet service is crippling. For that reason, we were among the first out of the gate to have their initial proposals for program funding approved. The state was awarded the $1.2 billion for broadband equity, access and deployment in June 2023; and there has been plenty of time since then to figure out how to use the money for its intended purpose.

According to the state’s draft final proposal, the West Virginia Office of Broadband within the state Department of Commerce will award just $625 million of the $1.2 billion BEAD grant to nine provisional subgrantees to expand high-speed broadband to 73,701 locations across the state.

“This process has resulted in substantial cost savings and will require subgrants that total only approximately half of the $1.21 billion allocated to West Virginia for BEAD …,” according to the draft.

What about the other $575 million, then?

“The Policy Notice states that funding for other allowable uses of this funding is under review and (the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration) will issue updated guidance in the future. WVDED looks forward to the future opportunity to respond with support for initiatives that will deepen the impact of these broadband infrastructure investments for West Virginia.”

Ah, bureaucratese. “Support for initiatives that will deepen the impact of these … investments,” could mean just about anything. They know that.

We’re talking about more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer money in West Virginia alone. Think about how much we might be talking, if similar “cost savings” are found all over the country.

This money was meant to address one very specific and significant problem for West Virginians and other parts of the country in need of a little federal support to achieve equity. The guidance the federal government provides MUST make that clear this time.