Rural internet bill nears final OK, lacks funding

Georgia lawmakers are finalizing a plan to help bring fast internet service to rural parts of the state despite doubts it will show significant results.

The legislation doesn’t include any state funding, but it empowers local electric companies to begin offering internet subscriptions and sets up a system for future government subsidies for internet construction.

The General Assembly is poised to take final votes on the legislation, Senate Bill 402, in the next few days after months of debate over how to expand internet service to sparsely populated areas that need it for business growth, health care and education.

About 16 percent of Georgians — 638,000 households — live in rural areas that lack access to high-speed internet, according to the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute.

The bill is a starting point that lays the foundation for covering the entire state with internet access, state House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jay Powell said. The legislation calls for the state to identify areas eligible for future grant money.

“It does everything but the funding,” said Powell, a Republican from Camilla. “If you’ve got the framework in place, you can fund it anytime.”

State legislators initially sought to find money to pay for rural internet expansion this year, in part by imposing taxes on digital products such as Netflix, e-books and music downloads. They abandoned that idea amid disagreements over how to tax communication businesses and hopes that Congress will provide rural internet funding.