While Iowa legislators have yet to decide how much money will be funded to expand broadband connectivity, District 39 Senator Kevin Kinney (D) of Oxford says the project will mean a lot to rural Iowa.
The senate recently approved House File 848 to set up a system of grants for broadband providers in an attempt to enhance internet access in rural parts of the state. Governor Kim Reynolds has yet to sign the bill because funding hasn’t been determined. The Governor asked for $150 million for each of the next three years while House Republicans are planning $100 million per year. Kinney says the need for expanded broadband became very apparent during the pandemic as schools went online, more people worked from home, and medical appointments were conducted through telehealth meetings. He says it all makes the bill very important to rural Iowa, “There are places here in Iowa that are basically a desert out there where there is no service or, if there is, it’s very slow because the broadbandwith is just not there. I think one of the things we have also seen is that people who are looking at moving back to Iowa because they can telework and if we have a good broadband system, it could be an economic driver in which people move back to rural Iowa.”
The bill calls for at least 20% of the grants to be awarded to projects in difficult-to-serve areas where no service provider offers broadband services with download speeds of less than or equal to 25 megabits per second.
Kinney along with State Senator Jeff Reichman (R) of Montrose and state representatives Jarad Klein (R) of Keota and Joe Mitchell (R) of Mount Pleasant are scheduled to participate in today’s (04.17) final legislative briefing hosted by the Washington Chamber of Commerce. The forums are held via Zoom from 10:00 am to noon.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 810 4275 2375
Passcode: Chamber