Gov. Gavin Newsom listens to participants of the California Service Corps on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, during a visit to Shop Class, a nonprofit learning center in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood. Newsom was launching a recruitment campaign to add 10,000 young people to the California Service Corps.
hamezcua@sacbee.com
The Bishop Paiute tribe in Inyo County is the first to access a statewide broadband system strengthening Internet access for rural communities across California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.
Newsom met with tribal leaders Thursday in Inyo County at a news conference to announce the launch of the Middle-Mile Broadband Network, which will connect communities in hard-to-reach areas to broadband.
The Bishop Paiute tribe is the first customer since Newsom first signed an executive order in 2020 mandating the state come up with a plan to bridge the digital divide for areas lacking reliable broadband access.
The California Broadband For All plan launched soon after, with federal funding from the Biden administration as COVID mandated most critical functions move online, making everyday life difficult for people without access to reliable service.
In July 2021, Newsom signed legislation authorizing the state to spend $6 billion over three years to fund connectivity for rural areas with little access, and to strengthen existing bandwidth for critical facilities like schools and libraries, hospitals and tribal lands like those occupied by the Bishop Paiute tribe in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
At the news conference, he claimed the state program was the largest public broadband network in the U.S.
“I‘m grateful to brag about this moment all across the state of California, and I’m grateful that we’re at a moment now where we’re going to start to see projects like this take shape over the course of the next few months,” Newsom said. The state is aiming to lay down 5,300 miles worth of fiber-optic lines by the end of 2026.
Christina Snider-Astari, Newsom’s tribal affairs adviser, said the initiative was a step forward in equalizing access for all Californians as most people rely on internet access in the 21st century for everything from jobs training to gaming, joking that children would now get to play “Roblox at high speed.”
Leviya Little Leaf Williams, the president of the tribe’s youth council said having high-speed internet “supports my culture, education and ability to stay connected with others.
“Many tribal areas are rural, which means students don’t always have access to a wide variety of classes and the ability to complete their assignments and prepare for college,” she said.
“It gives students the same opportunities as others who lived in more developed areas, but without it, students can fall behind, not because of their ability and what they can do, but because of limited access to internet.”
Lia Russell covers California’s governor for The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau. Originally from San Francisco, Lia previously worked for The Baltimore Sun and the Bangor Daily News in Maine.
