Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota introduced legislation this week designed to lay the foundation for a coordinated federal strategy to bring broadband services to underserved rural homes and businesses.
Nolan's Rural Broadband Initiative Act (H.R. 3152) would amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to centralize key rural broadband funding initiatives under one Office of Rural Broadband Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under the direction of a new Under-Secretary appointed by the President, the office would administer roughly $724 million in existing rural broadband loan and grant programs - streamlining regulations and act as a one-stop clearinghouse to provide assistance for local, state and regional governments seeking to connect their areas. The office would further act as central clearinghouse of broadband information for all federal agencies - including the Federal Communications Commission, which administers some $4.5 billion specifically designated for rural areas. More importantly, the Office would evaluate the effectiveness of all Federal broadband assistance programs and policies aimed at fostering broadband access in rural and underserved areas, and would evaluate best practices employed at the State and local government level to foster broadband access in rural and underserved areas. The bill would also establish a sense of Congress that "necessary funds should be made available to provide universal and affordable broadband access" across the nation "with a focus on underserved rural communities." This provision is considered key to future budget requests that would follow a wide-ranging assessment of the rural broadband needs - and a forthcoming report to Congress outlining a national rural broadband strategy. "It's time to bring high-speed broadband to all of rural America," Nolan declared. "More than half of all rural Americans are without high-speed broadband. Yet there is currently no clear Congressionally approved plan, no strategy, and no single federal office responsible for helping connect tens of millions of rural people to modern broadband services. Here in rural America, high-speed broadband is essential to our ability to compete - to help start new businesses, create new jobs, attract new people and provide the education and health care services so essential to our quality of life." Details of the proposed bill can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3152/text |
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May 2016
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