Policyband

Nevada Shifts $52 Million Away from Broadband Projects That Couldn’t Meet Deadline

The pandemic relief money will instead go to support mental health care in jails, food‑insecurity programs, and multifamily housing efforts

Ted Hearn

Oct 19, 2026 — 7 min read

Photo of Nevada landscape

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Budget: Nevada has pulled back a major slice of its rural broadband funding. State officials redirected $52 million in pandemic relief dollars after determining a contractor could not finish planned broadband connections in Pahrump before a year‑end federal deadline. All relief funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026, and the broadband money could not be used in time. The withdrawn funds represent more than a quarter of the $200 million originally set aside for Nevada’s rural broadband deployment and will now support mental health care in jails, food‑insecurity programs, and multifamily housing efforts, The Nevada Independent reported on Oct. 16. “This was a decision that was a challenging decision to make,” said Britta Appel, the director of the Governor’s Office of Science, Information and Technology (OSIT), the agency overseeing the broadband projects. “It was really based on the totality of the circumstances.” (More after paywall)