Minnesota lawmakers to propose $100 million to bring broadband to the borders

Despite a goal to put broadband in the hands of all residents by next year, a quarter of households -- nearly 500,000 -- still don’t have it, a new report from the Minnesota Broadband Task Force shows. Minnesota also will likely miss its goal to land in the top five states nationwide for access to speedy Internet by 2015. Today, the state ranks just 23rd in broadband availability.

Some lawmakers say that after years of goals, it’s time to spend state money to fix the problem. State Sen. Matt Schmit (DFL-Red Wing) will announce a bill that would create a $100 million matching grant program to help build broadband infrastructure. The task force estimates that the competitive grants -- funded with surplus dollars and matched by private, local or federal funds -- could connect more than 100,000 households to Internet with download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second, its definition of broadband. But the proposal has detractors. The conservative Freedom Foundation of Minnesota argues that there’s been no shortage of public funding thrown at broadband in recent years.