SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Legislation designed to expand broadband internet access to the farthest reaches of New Mexico was sent to the governor for consideration on Friday.
The state Senate approved a trio of bills designed to accelerate expansion of broadband infrastructure. One bill sent to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez would ensure an opportunity to insert broadband conduit underground any time trenches are dug to access utility lines.
Another bill heading to the governor seeks to spur investment in broadband infrastructure by combining demand for internet access among public schools and other educational institutions, while recovering a large portion of costs from a federal program established in 1996 to help connect public libraries and schools to the internet. Other provisions would help connect Native American tribes to high-speed internet in return for rights-of-way.
Final House approval still is pending on a bill that would shore up a fund overseen by the Public Regulation Commission to spur investment in broadband infrastructure projects. That bill could change the current 5 percent charge on telephone-service bills to a flat rate.
Democrats and Republicans alike have seized on the state’s spotty broadband network as an obstacle to economic development and improving education. The Legislature is looking for ways to reduce the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate and stimulate a sluggish state economy, with little money at their disposal amid a budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year linked to a downturn in the oil sector.
A spokesman for the governor declined to say whether she would support the legislation. Martinez has sponsored her own initiatives to increase broadband access at New Mexico schools in cooperation with the nonprofit group EducationSuperHighway.
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