This report seeks to answer a basic but important question: In Texas, what information should the public have about contractors operating in the public right of way? In municipalities across the state, working people are using tools to excavate, bore, and trench in public right of ways to install and repair fiber optic conduit to connect homes and businesses to high-speed fiber broadband. One of the most high-profile companies engaged in expanding Texas’ fiber optic network is Google, a company that has made public statements about holding “suppliers to high ethical standards,” and made commitments to “support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone.” Google Fiber announced Texas operations in 2010, and has become active in San Antonio and Austin since that time. This study seeks to provide context to Google Fiber’s Texas operations in three ways: First, we review contractors working on behalf of Google Fiber in Austin and San Antonio, and cross-reference them with publicly available federal wage and safety enforcement action data; Second, we collect and analyze City of Austin 311 service logs that reference Google Fiber; and Third, we cross-reference these contractors with letters sent by Austin Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio demanding restitution for damages. In addition, we cross-reference these contractors with publicly available state pipeline safety enforcement action data.

What emerges from this analysis is a web of more than 46 subcontractors that are named in Google Fiber Texas municipal data dating back to 2015. This analysis finds that eight entities, nearly one out of every five contractors identified in Google Fiber Texas municipal data in this analysis, have been named by federal regulatory authorities in a combined ninety-four violations and enforcement actions, seventy-four of them in Texas. The total includes at least twenty-nine Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) violations that have resulted in $227,375 in OSHA penalties, including an estimated $98,636 in penalties connected to violations where OSHA documented either hospitalized injuries or fatalities. These violations also include sixty-five Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) violations where enforcement data indicated Google Fiber subcontractors owed more than $100,228.85 in employee back wages. While this report does not claim these enforcement actions are in any way connected to specific Google Fiber projects, and additional analysis would be needed to make such a claim, these findings are nonetheless critical contributions to ongoing public discourse regarding subcontracting and the public’s right to contractor transparency when public assets like the right of way are involved.

Beyond federal enforcement data, this analysis finds that city staff with the City of Austin generated a total of 1,406 311 service logs from 2015-2021 that reference Google Fiber, including a 127% increase in total 311 service logs since 2019. The service logs made available by the city indicate that more than 99% were categorized as a complaint. One out of every eight 311 service logs in this analysis was categorized by city staff as “Utility Strike/Damage,” and this analysis notes a 380% increase of this category type from 2018 to 2021. Other prominent complaints categorized by city staff include “Immediate Public Health & Safety” (114); “Contractor Misconduct” (120); “Cleanup” (274); and “Landscaping Damage” (373).

As part of its focus on safety, this analysis focuses specifically on what public documents can tell us about Google Fiber contractors and utility damages. First, when a contractor operating in the right of way damages public property such as gas, water, or electricity lines, municipalities often seek to recover the cost to repair or replace the infrastructure. This analysis finds that Austin Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio retained records indicating 24 separate demands for damaged public property from 2015 to 2020. These records indicate demands for damage recovery were made to 12 separate contractors that met specific criteria outlined in the methodology. The damages sought by both public entities totaled at least  $129,376.58.  Second, this report cross references previously documented Google Fiber contractor information with Texas Railroad Commission pipeline damage prevention enforcement data and finds that, since 2015, five Google Fiber contractors have been named in 54 separate Texas Railroad Commission enforcement actions, which include $69,000 in penalties.

Finally, this analysis conducts fourteen qualitative in-depth interviews with members of Communication Workers of America in Dallas and San Antonio, whose work is focused on fiber optic deployment in the state. Key themes that emerge from these interviews is the emphasis on safety, training, and how collective bargaining provides a process for these individuals to address and help resolve concerns, including those focused on the working conditions associated with fiber deployment field operations.