Assessing Washington’s Digital Equity Plan

The functions of modern life increasingly occur online. Access to the internet and the skills to use it are essential for work and school, accessing health care, paying for services, connecting with family and friends, and fully engaging in modern civic and economic life. Washington, like other states, has benefited from federal funding related to digital equity. However, such federal funding has been reduced in 2025, as has state funding for digital equity efforts. In light of these changes to funding, Washington will likely need to reassess its digital equity priorities and strategies and seek alternative funding sources to support digital equity efforts if they remain a priority for the state.

A comprehensive plan with the goal of improving access to modern digital tools and services should cover all aspects of digital equity. These include: available and affordable high-speed internet access (which may also be called broadband access) and internet-enabled devices; accessible online public resources; and digital literacy for all who use these systems. It should cover all areas of the state and include roles and responsibilities for all relevant state agencies.

However, instead of a unified and comprehensive state digital equity plan, Washington currently has three plans in place that address digital equity:

• PEAR Plan & Playbook, developed by the Office of Equity, applies to all state agencies; it designates digital access and literacy as one of 15 determinants of equity.
• BEAD Five-Year Action Plan, developed by the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Office, as a requirement to receive and guide federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program funding for broadband expansion.
• National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)-approved Digital Equity Plan. This plan was also developed by the Broadband Office. It specifically responds to federal grant requirements to help states identify barriers to digital equity and develop strategies for overcoming those barriers.

Of the three plans, illustrated in the graphic below, the NTIA-approved Digital Equity Plan is the most promising starting point for a state digital equity plan.

We surveyed and interviewed staff from state commissions and agencies, including the Broadband Office and the Office of Equity, as well as members of federally recognized tribes and state legislators. These conversations provided deeper insight into generally expressed concerns about coordination. Three prominent issues mentioned in these conversations include:   

• Poor understanding of agency roles relating to digital equity. Since the term “digital equity” initially focused almost entirely on broadband access and availability, staff at those state agencies that are not involved with broadband might assume they have no role in forwarding digital equity. However, all state agencies are responsible for addressing the accessibility of online information, an issue now understood to be an element of digital equity.
• Difficulties coordinating plans or activities with other organizations. While some progress has been made to coordinate digital equity efforts during the pandemic, respondents thought there was still work to be done to forge strong connections between state agencies and with organizations outside of state government. They mentioned the importance of coordinating their efforts with those working in nonprofits, local governments, libraries and the private sector.

Respondents also mentioned poor communication as a barrier to effective collaboration. Some were unsure where to find more information because there is no inventory of programs or contact lists for digital equity programs and opportunities. Additionally, they felt they were brought into conversations as an afterthought, leading to a disconnect between communities and digital equity programming. A member of one tribal nation expressed a similar view, saying they do not see a lot of outreach to tribes around digital equity opportunities and it had been hard to find information about them.

Washington lacks both a designated leader and reliable funding for digital equity efforts. The Digital Equity Act did not grant clear authority to the Broadband Office or anyone else to oversee the strategic direction of digital equity initiatives across other state agencies outside the narrow remit of broadband access.

Furthermore, no state law gives any organization or agency a governance role over digital equity efforts, nor does one require all other relevant state entities to coordinate and work together to forward digital equity more broadly outside of efforts relating to broadband. Staff at several state agencies singled out the vacuum in leadership, with the consequent uncertainty about which agency should be leading the charge toward a comprehensive, unified state plan for digital equity work

While federal funds previously provided a boost to digital equity efforts, those resources are temporary. Other anticipated federal grants were terminated in May 2025, including funds intended to implement the NTIA-approved Digital Equity Plan.

As a result, the state will no longer receive the first round of federal funding, about $16 million in grant funds. It was intended to implement a cybersecurity literacy program, the first component of the NTIA-approved Digital Equity Plan to be implemented. The ending of federal funding, and the absence of state funding, means there is currently no funding to implement the NTIA-approved Digital Equity Plan.

Digital equity initiatives run the risk of becoming fragmented, inconsistently supported, or discontinued altogether once federal dollars run out, as happened to the cybersecurity literacy program. Staff across multiple state agencies warned that without a dedicated state appropriation or a reliable long-term funding mechanism, public programs that provided financial assistance to families with school-aged children for internet service at home and lending programs providing Wi-Fi hotspots could no longer be available.

We made recommendations to the Legislature to address the state’s lack of a comprehensive digital equity plan and absence of clear roles and responsibilities relating to digital equity. Those recommendations include clarifying state law related to digital equity governance and strategic objectives to establish clear oversight authority for the state’s digital equity efforts and to require development of a comprehensive, unified state digital equity plan.