Del. Brooke E. Lierman is proposing a bill to create a Maryland Office of Digital Inclusion, expanding the powers of the state’s rural broadband office.
In this year’s state legislative session, Lierman and six coauthors filed HB97, dubbed the Digital Connectivity Act. It would create an office within the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development that focuses on bridging the digital divide in suburban and metro areas, in addition to the rural areas of Maryland served by the current office. A recent study by the Abell Foundation found that one in four Maryland households don’t have wireline internet, painting the picture that the digital divide is an issue for all Marylanders, regardless of if they live in an urban, suburban or rural area.
“This legislation recognizes the important work that the Office of Rural Broadband has accomplished, celebrates it, and says we must expand that work to cover every Marylander,” said Lierman, a Democrat who represents Baltimore city.
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