On Tuesday, State Rep. Jaime Greene (R-Richmond) presided over a committee meeting of public officials, stakeholders, and industry experts working diligently to expand access to broadband internet services in Michigan’s rural areas. The committee heard testimony on the ongoing efforts to increase broadband availability from Eric Frederick, head of the Michigan Office of High-Speed Internet (MIHI).

“I appreciate Mr. Frederick sharing his office’s work to expand broadband access,” Greene said. “Much of MIHI’s efforts target rural areas like the ones that make up most of my district. During Mr. Frederick’s testimony, he showed us a display of Michigan locations that lack internet connectivity, qualifying them for funding under MIHI’s broadband access program. Nearly my whole district is included under those locations; it is very apparent that people that I represent need this service. They can be certain that I will work tirelessly until we’ve delivered them results.”

Tuesday’s committee meeting occurred just a few weeks after Rep. Greene sent a formal letter to Frederick requesting additional details on a sudden and undisclosed change to their scoring system used to evaluate funding applications for their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Without publicizing the change, MIHI lowered its scoring threshold required for applicants to receive BEAD funding from a 50% score to 25% after the pre-application window closed. This likely prevented several internet service providers who would have otherwise qualified for funding under BEAD from applying for the program.

Frederick responded to Greene’s letter with an explanation for the change and was candid about the reasons for it during his committee testimony. Though Greene expressed her appreciation for Frederick’s honesty, she also stressed her desire for more transparency regarding the rural broadband project moving forward.

“We’re just asking for clear communication and trust here,” Greene said to Frederick during the committee meeting. “I am heavily invested in this program, which is probably one of the major reasons why I’m the chair of this committee. I hope to hear an update again in a couple months.”