Minnesota Lawyer
Buried in the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force report released today is a long list of programs and tax incentives that other states have enacted to attract the capital needed to provide fast Internet download speeds to citizens and businesses.
Rep. Sheldon Johnson, DFL-St. Paul–pictured above at this morning’s press conference–the chairman of the House Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Committee, said he plans to read the report but won’t have new state money to spend on broadband in the 2010 legislative session.
“In the immediate term we’ll be looking at practical (proposals) that don’t require a lot of money,” Johnson said.
The report doesn’t make any spending recommendations. The one item that calls for legislative action is the creation of an advisory council to monitor and assist the implementation of the report’s recommendations.
The report calls for broadband access for everybody in the state. It also sets download and upload speed goals that should be reached by 2015.
Telecom issues have a low profile at the Capitol. But lobbyists follow telecom closely, as indicated by the turnout at Friday’s State Office Building press conference. Firms that were represented by lobbyists in the audience included Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A., Lockridge Grindal Nauen, P.L.L.P., and McGrann Shea Anderson Carnival Straughn & Lamb, Chartered.
More coverage of the broadband report is forthcoming in the Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report.
