Minnesota Senate DFL reports on a meeting that I reported on earlier…
Senator Grant Hauschild (DFL-Hermantown) told a Senate committee Wednesday that, for too long, small-and-rural communities across Minnesota have been told to wait to get the essential broadband services that are commonplace in more densely-populated communities, and he pressed his legislation that would help bring new broadband services to low-density areas that aren’t currently connected.
“Rural communities are constantly told to wait. Wait for funding, wait your turn, you don’t have the density, or you don’t have the property tax base. Whatever it is, you don’t get what the urban centers get, and you don’t get what the suburbs get,” Senator Hauschild told members of the Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development Committee. “The reason we created the low-density program is because we realize that funding is not getting equitably to all of Minnesota.”
Senator Hauschild told committee members that in 2023, he helped pass $100 million for broadband, with $40 million targeted to low-density communities. While the current rules require local communities to contribute 25 percent of the cost of broadband projects, with the state covering up to 75 percent, for some low-density communities the cost is still unattainable.
I used to be enthusiastic and positive about the thought of Broadband. I even led a Blandin group in Tower Mn. We had many meetings, from choosing a group to conduct a feasibility study, to getting the feasibility study done. Then the State backed out because of LTD and RDOF, followed by the State maps being wrong and now we have SHPO gumming up the works. The State has not met its goals set by the 2010 legislature and will not even by 2030. Blandin taught us that communities need champions but it is hard to be one for decades.
Thank you for being the local champion. You have been doing it for a long time and it must be difficult to experience the fatigue. The progress is not linear – as you know – but hopefully will come!