Advocates call on Conference Committee to restore funding and municipal authority to offer broadband.
(Columbus, OH)—As the budget conference committee continues its hearings on the state’s biennial budget bill, advocates are sounding the alarm over the need to restore both funding for high-speed broadband expansion in Ohio and the authority for municipalities to provide broadband services to their residents.
“For the more than one million Ohioans who lack internet access, the provisions quickly and quietly inserted into the Senate-passed version of the budget will result in a continued lack of connectivity and an even deeper disadvantage,” said Kelsey Bergfeld, Director of Advocates for Ohio’s Future. “We need an all-hands-on-deck approach to make sure every Ohioan has the ability to effectively do their job, finish their school assignment, or receive health care when they need it the most.”
The Senate-passed version of the budget removed $190 million from the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program and inserted language that restricts political subdivisions’ ability to provide broadband service to their residents.
“The best entity to expand service may be a government entity, and there are models across Ohio where a municipality has been providing reliable, high speed broadband service to residents at a competitive cost,” said Bergfeld. “Research has shown that municipal broadband access is a predictor of low-priced broadband ability, and residents without service cannot afford to have another option stripped away or cost-reducing competition squashed.”
Baiju Shah, President and CEO of Greater Cleveland Partnership, described the need for equitable digital access in Northeast Ohio. “This amendment severely limits efforts in the Cleveland area to end the digital divide and help low-income residents access broadband internet. Public-private partnerships helped our community respond to urgent broadband needs throughout the pandemic when so many students and people have been forced to shelter in place,” said Shah. “This amendment would restrict such partnerships, expanding rather than ending the divide for so many low-income students, adults, and elders.”
The conference committee will continue wrapping up their work on harmonizing different versions of the budget bill over the next two weeks, with floor action from both chambers required by June 30th.