Renavotio Inc (fka RIII)

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$RIII Governor Kevin Stitt signs bills expanding Rural broadband connectivity
Patrick B. McGuigan, Editorial Director, The Oklahoma City Sentinel May 6, 2022

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Oklahoma City -- Governor Kevin Stitt has signed into law House Bill 3363, a measure aiming to assure that high-speed Internet access will, by 2027, reach 95 percent of Oklahomans.

In a press release sent to The Oklahoma City Sentinel and other news organizations, Stitt declared, “This is a great day for all my friends in rural Oklahoma.”

The chief executive, in the statement announcing he had affixed his signature, said, “Digital transformation has been a priority of mine since the day I took office, and I am so proud to be delivering expanded broadband infrastructure to all corners of Oklahoma. High-speed internet access is critical to making Oklahoma a Top Ten state and will make a generational impact.”

The new goes into effect immediately. It creates a federally-funded Oklahoma Broadband Office. The U.S. government dollars will "wind down when the project is complete," the Stitt release said.

Speaker of the House Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, were legislative co-sponsors of the measure. Rep. Logan Phillips, R-Mounds, shepherded the measure through the lower chamber.

Governor Stitt said he was tasking Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Digital Transformation Steven Harpe to have oversight for the expansion effort.

Video from the governor concerning the new law can be viewed here:

In a February House press release, Speaker McCall said, "Broadband has been a shared priority of the legislative and executive branches." He accurately predicted the measure would enjoy strong bipartisan support.

The measure garnered 85-0 support in the House, with 15 members excused. In the Senate, the vote was 43-0, with five members excused.

Rep. Phillips said at the start of House consideration a path would be created to "build a sustainable Oklahoma broadband infrastructure for generations to come. Creating a broadband office is a national best practice used by more than 30 other states and recommended by the Oklahoma Rural Broadband Expansion Council. It is the logical next step in the efforts we have been working on for three years."

The new legislation is the capstone of a three-year process involving more than a dozen separate pieces of legislation.

In an analysis for the Oklahoma Policy Institute last month, Professor Brian Whitacre, an agricultural economics director at Oklahoma State University, said "Oklahoma has been behind the curve in establishing administrative infrastructure to increase access to broadband. Fortunately, federal American Rescue Plan Act funds can be directed toward that key infrastructure. Oklahoma has already set aside $2 million to build a broadband map that will highlight the areas lacking broadband availability at different speed thresholds. The map will include geocoded data for households, agricultural, and business structures, and the state will work with local providers and third-party speed tests to ensure that the map captures real-time, 'on-the-ground” broadband availability.'"

(https://okpolicy.org/broadband-bill-presents-opportunity-for-oklahoma-guest-post-dr-brian-whitacre/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=itk-04-13-22 )

Prof. Whitacre wrote that H.B. 3363 was "the second piece of critical infrastructure needed" to meet the five-year goal of access for the vast majority of Oklahomans.

https://www.city-sentinel.com/townnews/politics/governor-kevin-stitt-signs-bills-expanding-rural-broadband-connectivity/article_73642e7a-cd5a-11ec-bdd5-0bd2bf2ebf94.html