A planned $200 million investment in Hawaii broadband access using federal funds got axed Thursday by Gov. David Ige as he signed four bills aimed at improving “digital equity” among local communities.

Ige used a line-item veto to strike the federal pandemic recovery aid appropriation in SB 2076, which he signed into law to enact other provisions in the measure.

The new law, which went into effect today, will establish a working group led by the University of Hawaii and a new state office to devise strategies for funding, development and maintenance of new broadband infrastructure for the state.

The law also appropriates $360,000 to hire staff that can start running the Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office, which state lawmakers created in 2021 without any funding for operations.

UH was tasked with spending the $200 million that the Legislature appropriated in the bill to carry out the broadband expansion initiative, but Ige said lawmakers over-allocated money delivered to the state under the American Rescue Plan Act.

“The total funds from the Rescue Plan and other coronavirus state recovery funds have been over- appropriated, and we certainly are looking at other mechanisms that we need to execute in order to fund things that our community needs,” he said during a bill-signing ceremony at a state-owned high-tech business incubator in Kakaako called the Entrepreneur’s Sandbox.

Ige said the nixed federal funding in the bill isn’t disappointing, because he expects the state will be able to obtain plenty of federal funding in the future to expand broadband service to places that lack it.

In January, Ige proposed a bold initiative to spend $400 million on expanding broadband service on the neighbor islands. The plan, announced in his State of the State speech, was dubbed “Apakau ka La” — “spreading of the sun’s rays” — and was described as the state’s biggest-ever single investment in Hawaii technology.

On Thursday, Ige said he’s confident the ambitious plan will be realized.

The new working group — which is to include directors of seven state agencies, Hawaii’s four county mayors, UH’s president and the head of the new Digital Equity Office, who has not yet been appointed — will take on the mission to fulfill the broadband expansion vision.

The need, Ige said, was glaring over the past two years during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that led to government meetings, school, work and other matters being carried out online.

“It really is about digital equity and the notion that for those who are not connected and don’t have access, they are significantly hampered from full participation in our communities and in our economies,” he said Thursday.

Three other bills Ige signed at the ceremony also should take steps toward addressing this issue.

SB 2184 appropriates $7.1 million for the state Department of Education to establish a “digital learning center” that helps the department better deliver education online.

“The pandemic taught us we can go 100% virtual for education as well as 100% in person, and we do know that on behalf of our students, the best education system will encompass both of those extremes,” Ige said. “For our students, we need to be able to fashion an education program utilizing the full range of options.”

Another bill, SB 2214, appropriates $75,000 for public libraries to help expand digital literacy and digital tool access for the general public. This could include classes, though specifics of a program would be implemented by the state librarian and overseen by the Board of Education.

The fourth bill signed by Ige at Thursday’s event, SB 2479, requires that any public or low-income housing projects built or reconstructed in 2023 and beyond include infrastructure necessary for tenants to receive broadband service.

“We did discover during this pandemic that having fiber run down the street in front of public housing is just not good enough,” Ige said. “It really is about ensuring that each and every unit has connectivity to the internet so that everyone can fully participate.”

State Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism, described the four bills as “groundwork” that will get built upon in upcoming years.

“It’s a long road ahead, but today we are taking four important steps ahead in this journey,” he said at the ceremony.

Burt Lum, broadband strategy officer for the state, used the term “connective tissue” to describe the four bills as helping develop digital equity among community members statewide.

“How do we enable our communities to really gain a better foothold in this digital economy?” he said at the ceremony. “This is just the start, but it is a really great start for all of us moving in this direction.”