Missouri State Broadband Office

The Missouri General Assembly issued a report in January 2022 with key recommendations on how the state needs to prepare and change its laws so that it can qualify for funding from the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act. 

Currently, Missouri law defines “underserved areas” as lacking wireline or fixed wireless access of at least 25/3 Mbps, while an “unserved Area”is one without wireline or fixed wireless access of at least 10/1 Mbps.

Missouri enacted a state standard of minimum 25/3 access in 2018 through H.B. 1872. 
The Missouri Broadband Grant Program provides grants for costs associated with the deployment of broadband to unserved or underserved areas. 

The maximum grant size is $5 million per project. Governor postgres Parson requested $400 million in his 2022 State of the State address to fund various broadband projects across his administration. That money would draw from American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The University of Missouri runs The Missouri Broadband Resource Rail, which helps local governments with education, connections and other resources. It can be accessed here.

“From the local government perspective, we are a connector of key players when pursuing broadband funding, a resource for broadband, demographic, socio-economic and other relevant data, and we have created a guide that steps communities through the process of planning for a broadband project and enables them to come up with a concrete proposal by the end," writes Justin Krohn, a research project analyst at the University of Missouri's Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) University of Missouri.