Broadband bills lack support in state Legislature

    In January, Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the creation of a broadband office that he said would move the state from 70 percent to 80 percent coverage by the end of 2018 and to 100 percent by 2020.
    He’ll likely have to do it with little to no help from the General Assembly.
    In the past two weeks, efforts by Democratic senators to find ways to expand broadband coverage to mostly rural areas have fallen by the wayside, lacking support in the Republican-controlled Senate.
    The first bill, offered by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman of Denver, would have lifted a restriction on local governments (cities, towns and counties) that want to offer cable television, telecommunications service or high-speed internet access. State law currently requires those local governments to seek voter approval before creating their own local broadband access.
    That bill died on a 4-3 vote in the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee.
    Guzman pointed out during a recent hearing that 65 of those elections have taken place in the last 11 years, and voters have approved those requests every time. Guzman set a goal more than a year ago to travel around the state to represent not just her district but to listen to the needs of people outside of Denver. Improving broadband for rural Colorado has become one of her goals.
    Communities that lack efficient broadband service suffer, she said, such as in accessing telemedicine or in helping children learn.
    But Republicans, including Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham of Cañon City, argue that allowing local governments to set up their own community broadband creates unfair competition for the broadband providers. In addition, Grantham told this reporter that those who live in the most remote reaches of the state make that choice and that not all Coloradans will be able to access broadband.

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