According to the Mankato Free Press…

The to-do list of the 2016 Legislature can be summed up in three words: Broadband, bonding and roads.

And here’s what they say about broadband…

We can build on the past success of Minnesota’s broadband grant program by adding millions more to a fund that was quickly used up in the first two rounds of competitive projects. An initial $20 million in projects was quickly awarded the first year of the program. Funding was unfortunately cut back to $10 million last year with the importance of this program getting lost in the rancor and chaos of the closing days of the session.

Two leading Republicans have told The Free Press they will now support increasing this fund, which could possibly be up to as much as $100 million that Dayton has proposed.

Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, and chair of the House jobs and energy committee, said he expected the momentum of support for the program to possibly make the $100 million possible, even though Garofalo, last year, proposed cutting the program due to new technology coming online.