Sen Hutchison Introduces Broadband Bill to Spur Private Investment, Raise Public Adoption

Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced legislation to engage the private sector and encourage investment in the deployment of broadband. The Connecting Act of 2009 is designed to stimulate investment and economic development activity over the next five years by creating limited duration tax credits that will encourage companies to make investments that they might otherwise delay due to the economic downturn. Under the bill, targeted incentives would provide companies immediate access to capital and encourage broadband investment to maintain and improve infrastructure where it is needed most. The bill would also create a technology-neutral bond program that will allow communities, rather than federal bureaucrats, to raise funds for construction, assess their own infrastructure needs, and adopt the broadband technologies that are most appropriate. The legislation would also reform and streamline the numerous federal programs supporting broadband to focus broadband deployment funding in a coordinated manner by creating an Office of National Broadband Strategy within the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to provide technical assistance to anyone applying for funds under a variety of programs. Within that office, the bill would establish an advisory panel on deployment and adoption made up of representatives of business, public interest groups and government agencies. The panel would review the effectiveness of those government investments and whether it is feasible to create a single application process for all the relevant federal broadband programs.