The MN House Industrial Education and Economic Development Committee took up Rep. Rob Ecklund’s House File 14 and moved it to Ways and Means. Most testifiers supported the grants whole heartedly.
Here are some of the comments from testifiers:
“We’ve done a lot of good with the grants but we still have a long way to go” Monty Morrow Nuvera
“Everything, even this meeting we are attending today requires broadband” Dan Larson
“my distract has one economic drive and it’s a boo/bust industry; broadband diversifies us” Rep Sandstede
“remember at the start of the pandemic, I couldn’t work from home – that’s why we need broadband” Rep Ecklund
“level of state should funding be considered given the amounts of federal funding that is now coming into the state” Anna Boroff MN Cable
A few publications have picked up this meeting:
International Falls Journal: https://www.ifallsjournal.com/news/local/house-committee-approves-new-investments-in-high-speed-broadband/article_f4421e0c-9e44-55f2-b09f-87188cc0c90a.html
CBS3 Duluth https://www.ifallsjournal.com/news/local/house-committee-approves-new-investments-in-high-speed-broadband/article_f4421e0c-9e44-55f2-b09f-87188cc0c90a.html
KBJR 6 https://kbjr6.com/2021/03/17/new-bills-aims-to-expand-broadband-internet-across-the-northern-minnesota/