A new bill introduced by D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) aims to make high-speed internet affordable and accessible to every resident in the District.

The Internet Equity Amendment Act, which Allen introduced on Tuesday, would set a standard for minimum levels of internet speeds and establish mechanisms to make it affordable to households across the city.

Allen says that some D.C. neighborhoods currently only have access to DSL-level speeds — which on the low end can be between 10-20 megabits per second — limiting their access to critical services, and faster options are sometimes out-of-reach for low-income households.

“We knew before the pandemic that many D.C. residents were falling behind because reliable and fast internet service wasn’t even an option in their home or neighborhood,” Allen said in a statement. “Now, after a year with much of our daily lives moved online, it’s clear we cannot continue to treat access to broadband and reliable Wi-Fi as a luxury only for those who can afford it. Often, the gap between households who are moving forward and those being left behind can be measured by the speed of their internet connection.”

The bill would create a Digital Equity Division within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, and outlines what it should do in its first year. That would include setting minimum internet speeds that would allow residents to work or take classes from home, produce an inventory of how easy it is to access online applications for District services and benefits, and identify households that are not connected to the internet at all, or connected at a speed too slow to work or take classes from home.

The division would also be charged with identifying lower-income households that are connected at a reasonable speed but are paying too much, defined as any household paying more than 0.5% of monthly income, or just over $25 a month for a family of four earning $63,000 annually. It would then seek to connect households, and ensure that households below half of the area median income are both connected at a reasonable speed and paying a reasonable amount each month.

While the bill leaves long-term solutions up to the new division, one suggestion would be to create a municipal internet provider, which hundreds of smaller cities have tried. Allen says other options could include expanding the District’s existing Wi-Fi network or working with private internet service providers.

Access to high-speed internet has taken on additional urgency since the pandemic hit, and could well make a leap forward in years to come. Not only has President Joe Biden made it an element of his $2 trillion infrastructure plan, but states and cities have started announcing plans to use some of the state and local aid included in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package Congress approved last month to expand access to broadband.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan recently announced he would put $300 million of the $3.9 billion in aid the state is getting towards expanding internet connectivity to underserved parts of the state, which he called “a game-changing broadband technology initiative.”

Broadband Now says D.C. ranks seventh in the nation for broadband access, with 99% of residents having access to download speeds of 100 mbps or higher. Still, Allen says cost is a factor for many households, including those in low-income neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

Nine of Allen’s colleagues have co-sponsored the legislation.