IARN — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill that will help expand broadband access across the state.
Governor Reynolds signed HF 867 into law on Monday, which includes a $100 million appropriation for the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grand Fund. Back in January, Governor Kim Reynolds called on legislators to allocate $150 million for the program. House and Senate lawmakers settled on the $100 million mark.
In April, Democratic Representative Chris Hall of Sioux City introduced an amendment that would keep the funding level at $100 million, but would use COVID-19 relief money from the federal government to pay for it, instead of the state’s general fund.
“There is a bipartisan agreement that this is something the state needs to continue to look into, both setting up the grant program and devoting resources to it,” said Hall. “Knowing that that bill passed with a strong bipartisan vote in both chambers, that created the bucket, so to speak, for dollars to eventually be put into. The House and Senate have chosen to allocate $100 million from the state’s general fund to go toward the cause of broadband expansion.”
Hall’s amendment was defeated on a party-line vote. Republican Representative John Landon of Ankeny says using federal money to finance the program could create issues with the regulations tied to it.
“With that federal money comes a lot of federal regulations,” said Landon. “Those regulations have not been issued yet. Our plan is not to supplement state dollars with federal dollars. It’s just not smart budgeting at this time. It’s all too premature to use the fund, because the federal government has not given us those directions on how to use it. I would urge the body to vote no.”
Reynolds says the bill will transform Iowa’s infrastructure into a powerful network. The broadband program will launch July 1st.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Photo by Iowa PBS
