Committee considers moving telecom plan from 3 to 5 years, members warn of outreach trade‑offs

At the Feb. 17 House Energy and Digital Infrastructure meeting, committee members weighed language in the FY27 budget (E233.1) that would change the telecom plan cadence from every three years to every five years. Speaker 1 said the change is already included in the governor’s recommended budget and the committee needs to decide whether to support it in its letter to Appropriations.

Speaker 5 defended the longer cadence as primarily informational: the telecom plan provides data and market context—“helping developers understand the situation on the ground”—rather than an action plan. Other members cautioned that moving from a three‑year to a five‑year cycle could reduce outreach and staff time spent on the plan; Speaker 1 noted that the next comprehensive energy plan is due in 2028 and flagged potential overlap with other timelines (telecom plan in 2029 and certain cell‑tower sunsets in 2030), which could complicate sequencing of related policy work.

Committee members agreed the DPS rationale merits consideration but asked staff to confirm the implications for outreach and for interaction with the comprehensive energy plan. The committee did not take a formal vote; members indicated they might record straw‑poll results for this language in the final FY27 letter to Appropriations.