Broadband bill introduced in Iowa House

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Legislation that carries much of Gov. Terry Branstad’s “Connect Every Acre” plan to expand high-speed Internet access into rural Iowa has been introduced in the Iowa House of Representatives.

 

House Study Bill 104 creates a $5 million grant program, provides property tax breaks and establishes an expedited permitting process for the installation of broadband infrastructure.

 

Companies that introduce fiber-optic services in areas, including cornfields, that have no high-speed service would receive property tax relief of 100 percent of the value added to the property for a period of three years.

 

Dustin Miller, general counsel for the Iowa League of Cities, said the property tax relief would be similar to tax abatements already offered by many municipalities. He believes the communications industry would need extra incentives, however, to expand service in areas where they have not found a sound business purpose to do so.

 

Under the legislation, local governments would be required to approve permits for the installation of fiber-optic infrastructure within 60 days. Failure to act would result in automatic approval of the permit.

 

Companies would be required to provide Internet access at speeds that match the Federal Communications Commission’s new broadband benchmarks of 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 megabits per second for uploads.

 

The House Commerce Committee will take up the bill for the first time Thursday.
 

Read more about broadband at BusinessRecord.com.