New Years Greetings from District 3

As we move into a new year and say goodbye to 2021, I wanted to bring you up to date on Placer County’s Rural Broadband Advocacy.

The last two years have shown us once again something that we already knew; when much of our workforce is working from home and our students are trying to keep up with their online studies, our rural internet service is woefully inadequate.

Placer County’s Department of Information Technology (IT) under the leadership of Chief Information Officer, Jarrett Thiessen, has been working diligently to improve rural broadband infrastructure this past year (2021).

On October 12^th the Board of Supervisors awarded Wave Broadband a $500,000 Last Mile Broadband Grant to expand high-speed internet service to the county’s rural communities. The grant funding will assist Wave Broadband with its $2.2 million of proposed projects to develop and improve infrastructure to serve approximately 1,500 residences and businesses in Auburn, North Auburn and Penryn. The focus of the grant program is to provide new and existing internet service providers to invest in building broadband infrastructure that supports economic development, public safety, remote learning, telehealth services and overall community prosperity in Placer County.

Additionally, Placer County has been allocated just over $77 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that was signed into law on March 11, 2021, and the Board of Supervisors has designated $10 million of those funds to further invest in rural broadband infrastructure.

Placer County will continue to advocate for improved broadband services through participation in the Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA), a joint powers authority formed by Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) for the purpose of expanding broadband access and quality in rural counties throughout the state. While I serve on the Board of Directors of RCRC, District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson will serve as the Delegate to Golden State Connect Authority.

More information can be found at: Rural Broadband Advocacy | Placer County, CA

In closing, I want to wish you all a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Supervisor Jim Holmes

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The signature-in-lieu period for the June 7 statewide direct primary election is open to Placer County residents at 8 a.m. on January 3 and closes at 5 p.m. on February 9.  Learn more...