Iowa House approves broadband access incentives

DES MOINES - The Iowa House took a 'good step in the right direction” toward helping provide broadband access to Iowans no matter where they live with passage of a bill offering incentives to private providers.

Although House File 641 is just a 'first step,” floor manager Rep. Peter Cownie, R-West Des Moines, said implementation of the broadband initiative will deliver benefits for education, health care and economic development efforts in those urban and rural areas of Iowa without good connectivity.

Although a similar bill failed in the House last year, HF 641 was approved 89-5. It now goes to the Senate.

Gov. Terry Branstad, who made his 'Connect Every Acre” broadband plan a priority in his Condition of the State address in January, hailed the bill's passage with strong bipartisan support.

'Our administration understands that if we are to continue to grow jobs and increase incomes we must ensure that every acre of Iowa is connected with high-speed broadband,” the governor said.

Cownie explained that HF 641 would establish a grant program to coordinate and facilitate broadband access in targeted areas of the state. No state dollars would be involved, but providers who put in 90

percent of the cost of building out their broadband infrastructure could qualify for federal money to cover the remaining 10 percent.

The bill also includes a 10-year property tax relief program to help offset costs for qualifying service providers who expand broadband in unserved or underserved areas of Iowa.

Removed from the original bill was a provision to provide $5 million in state money for broadband expansion and another making the incentives retroactive.

Rep. Jo Oldson, D-Des Moines, called the effort a work in progress and hoped lawmakers could continue to tweak it 'to make sure we get broadband out to areas that have none.”