THU AM News: Low-income households left footing the bill for internet after federal assistance ended; The Water Council expanding WAVE water stewardship program

March 20, 2025

— Many low-income households in Wisconsin were likely left footing the bill for internet services after federal funding ran out last year for the Affordable Connectivity Program.

That’s according to Drew Garner, director of policy engagement with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society in Illinois. He spoke yesterday during a meeting of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Access, where he pointed to affordability issues as a main barrier to broadband adoption.

Similarly, access to broadband internet is “heavily correlated” with economic prosperity and better health, Garner said.

“When broadband is available, it increases entrepreneurship and business revenue,” he said. “Health outcomes get better … health care costs decline, because the more you can take advantage of telehealth services, the less you have to rely on an ambulance to drive you from a rural area to a hospital.”

He referenced these trends to underline the impact of the ACP, a three-year federal program that helped eligible households afford internet access and connected devices. Before it ended last year due to a lack of congressional funding, more than one in six Wisconsin households were enrolled in the program, in line with the national trend.

Most participants that qualified for the program did so because they were already on other government assistance programs, including Medicaid, food stamps and a more limited internet assistance program called Lifeline. That means many of the ACP enrollees were low-income households, Garner explained.

When active, the ACP provided a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying tribal lands. Qualifying households could also get a one-time credit of $100 toward buying a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating companies, as long as they contributed between $10 and $50 toward the purchase.

When the program ran out of funding and ended in June 2024, one out of six households “were hit with a bill spike, pretty much all at once,” Garner said.

“A lot of these people, very low-income people, were on the hook for a service that the government had effectively promised to help them afford, but then that benefit was taken away and those households were then responsible for the bill that became due,” he said.

While Garner said “it’s not yet clear” how many people will go into debt as a result, he noted telecommunications services — including broadband — is one of the top three causes of consumer debit in the United States.

“Unpaid bills go into collections, people fall into debt, it hurts their credit score,” he said, tying these results to the end of the ACP benefits.

He called the program’s end “a little bit tragic,” referencing multiple studies that found the economic benefits of the ACP more than paid for the cost of the program.

“All the savings to Medicaid for using telehealth, all the better employment benefits, people making higher income … savings to government programs, those all add up to more than $14 billion, the cost of the ACP,” he said.

At the national level, of the 23 million households enrolled in the program, 4 million were newly connected with the internet through the ACP and another 11 million with “intermittent” connectivity were kept online thanks to the program.

“So a total of 15 million people were effectively brought and kept online thanks to the ACP,” he said. “Based on these other numbers, a lot of them are probably struggling to afford connectivity.”

See more on the program ending here.

— The Water Council is expanding its WAVE water stewardship verification program, creating a new tier to “help companies take the next step” in advancing water-related goals.

Its original WAVE program, now called WAVE: Assess, helps participating companies assess water use and risk across their operations. The new WAVE: Action program will help participants “set targets that directly mitigate highest priority water risks” and engage with other groups on shared priorities.

WAVE: Action is only available to companies that have already completed the Assess level or those that can demonstrate they have already assessed their own water-related risks and opportunities and established a senior-level water commitment.

Its first participant is A.O. Smith Corporation, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of water heater products. The business was one of the first to be verified by WAVE in 2022, and has since set a goal of saving 40 million gallons of water per year by 2030.

The program includes a four-part approach to taking action on top-priority water issues, setting goals, preparing for external reporting and more, according to the announcement.

It also involves a third-party verification by SCS Global Services, a California business that assesses performance across sustainability, environmental and social metrics. Lauren Enright, the company’s program manager for water services, says “independent verification is essential” to aligning water stewardship goals with related efforts.

“WAVE: Action represents an important evolution in corporate water stewardship, helping companies move from assessment to implementing tangible solutions that address critical water challenges,” Enright said in the release.

Seven companies have been verified through WAVE: Assess since 2022, including A. O. Smith, Clearwater Paper, Ecolab, KPMG U.S., Primo Brands, Sloan and Watts Water Technologies.

Matt Howard, The Water Council vice president of water stewardship, says this initial program “was always meant to be a beginning, not an end” to water stewardship efforts.

“We expect many of these companies to eventually move on to WAVE: Action as they continue on their journeys to achieve water stewardship best practices and help protect our critical water resources,” Howard said.

See the release.

— State officials have announced $6.3 million in funding for local transportation services for people with disabilities and seniors through the Specialized Transit Program.

Gov. Tony Evers yesterday rolled out details for the round of grant funding, going to 58 agencies throughout Wisconsin. The funds are used for buying vehicles, program operations and other costs related to specialty transportation services.

“Access to transportation is a key part of connecting the dots to make sure folks can get to where they need to go, whether it’s work, medical appointments, or the grocery store, or accessing the critical services they need,” Evers said in a statement.

Projects getting funding this year include mobility management efforts to coordinate transportation services, boost capacity and connect locals with services, with many recipients serving rural communities.

See the release.

— Sen. Patrick Testin says extending the state’s Enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is “vital” in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

The state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would extend the ePDMP program by five years to 2030, according to a release from the Stevens Point Republican. Currently, one provision of the program will expire April 1 and another will end Oct. 30.

Since launching in 2013, the program has provided information on controlled substance prescriptions to health care professionals to guide their prescribing. It also includes a requirement that doctors and other prescribers in the state review patient records in the program’s database before issuing a prescription, the release shows.

Testin argues the ePDMP is “one of the most crucial prevention tools” against the opioid epidemic, pointing to a “ten-fold” increase in registrations over the past five years.

“There is obviously a tremendous benefit to continuing the ePDMP,” he said in a statement. “Statistics also show that opioid dispensions dropped by 9.2 percent from the last quarter of 2023 to the same time frame in 2024. The ePDMP is working as intended and we must ensure that healthcare providers and law enforcement can keep using this important tool.”

Testin notes the Assembly is scheduled to consider the bill today, where if passed, it would go to Dem Gov. Tony Evers for his signature.

See the release.

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