Another push to expand rural broadband access. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
There’s another attempt to increase rural access to broadband. Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Joni Ernst of Iowa reintroduced bipartisan legislation to protect and expand access to high-speed internet in rural communities and encourage rural broadband investment.
The Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports Rural America Act would provide regulatory relief to rural telecommunications service providers by allowing them to submit streamlined financial reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These small businesses are often the only service providers in their regions and could be put out of business by looming regulatory costs. The ACCESS Rural America Act would save small businesses from costly SEC reporting requirements that were never intended for them.
Senator Baldwin says reliable high-speed broadband is essential to rural families, students, and farmers. She says, unfortunately, rural telecom companies are getting hit with costly reporting fees that are intended for much-larger companies, threatening to upend their businesses and halt their service to the communities.
Listen to Sabrina Halvorson’s This Land of Ours program here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.