When asked why he was so certain that the Senate, which had no money for broadband expansion, would fund DeWine’s application in full, Husted said, “Because there have been many voices from across the state who have called and spoken to their senators helped educate them about why it is so important. ”YOUNGSTOWN – Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said he was confident that the Ohio Senate, which has overturned Governor Mike DeWine’s proposal to provide $ 250 million in grants for broadband internet, will restore everything when one state budget is up next Week is approved.
Husted was in Youngstown Wednesday to speak to local businesspeople about broadband at the Eastgate Regional Council office and then toured M7 Technologies.
He added: “I think lawmakers are very receptive to these changes. Governor DeWine and I have raised these concerns, so I think the understanding of the need will grow and, ultimately, I hope the legislature will believe that it will restore funding. “
The House version of the budget cut DeWine’s proposal to $ 190 million.
Husted said he expected the House of Representatives and Senate, both controlled by his Republican compatriots, to change their position and fund broadband with $ 250 million.
By June 30th, the two legislatures have to resolve budget differences.
When asked how devastating it would be for the state not to have broadband funding, Husted said, “It would make Ohio a backward-looking state if we couldn’t do this. Failure is not an option here. We’ll stay on course until we’ve done that. “
But DeWine and Husted say a lot more is needed.
DeWine signed a bill in May that provides $ 20 million to improve broadband Internet access in underserved or underserved areas of the state. The law is aimed at households in which it is still not possible to expand the service. It focuses funding in 37 “emergency wards” including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana.
“Many people cannot partake of normal modern life without the internet and access to high-speed internet, and I see hundreds of thousands of people in entire communities excluded from the modern economy,” said Husted.
According to the DeWine administration, about 1 million Ohioans live in 300,000 households without high-speed internet.
LOCAL PROPOSAL
At the meeting in Eastgate on Wednesday, Jim Kinnick, the agency’s executive director, discussed a proposal to install a high-speed fiber optic line along nearly 160 kilometers of State Road 11 through counties of Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula. The cost is $ 15 million. It will be reduced to $ 12 million if Columbiana is not included.
The project would serve more than 620,000 people and provide broadband internet access to the underserved in the four Appalachian counties, Kinnick said.
There are sections of the four counties – including parts of northern Trumbull and southern Mahoning – with no broadband coverage and there are several areas with slow coverage, he said.
A feasibility study showed that Youngstown had the second worst broadband connection among Ohio communities with more than 5,000 residents – with Warren in fifth place and Niles in 32nd place, largely for cost reasons.
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