Texas rural counties asking for $1.5 billion in tax dollars to be able to get high speed internet (Lufkin: co-ops, loans)

[Dopo]

This is what I can’t stand about solid red rural counties
They always preach about less government, less taxes, we don’t need no stinking government
Until they realize that they will not make progress without government


Final approval given to bill allocating $1.5 billion to broadband expansion in Texas

House Bill 9, filed by Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, would create the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund. The bill is accompanied by House Joint Resolution 125, which proposes a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval to create the fund.

“This represents a historic investment in connectivity infrastructure to meet the technological demands of the future,” Ashby told lawmakers Sunday. “And reaffirms our belief that all Texans deserve access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.”

[StealthRabbit]

The funds will likely be in the form of LOANS for infrastructure development, AND are probably restricted funds ONLY available for RURAL use. (i.e.... fiber ran directly in front of my rural home over 10 yrs ago, but I can't access it, because it's only for schools and libraries. homeschool + $20k+ / yr in property taxes does not count - no internet available except for Elon Net ($129/ month + $600 set-up ) Wait listed)

The Broadband Infrastructure Fund will help pay to develop and finance broadband and telecommunications services and 911 services, as well as providing matching funds for federal money from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, among other items.

Similar to REA (Circa 1930's)
https://www.investopedia.com/rural-e...on-act-5119177

Gains in productivity meant that farmers made more money and were able to pay back the REA loans. The default rate on these loans was less than 1%.
In other words, the government managed to provide electricity to its rural population essentially for free.

An Enduring Legacy
Although most farmers got access to electricity by the 1950s, the impact of the REA continued long after that date. In 1949, the act was extended to permit loans to phone companies to extend their connections to rural places in the country.

UK ran rural fiber to farms via REA type Co-ops 10+ yrs ago.
Amazon and Google have wired many 3rd world countries, but are not allowed to do so in USA... FCC regs.
There is no place I travel in the world with worse rural internet access than the USA.

Not everyone can move to town.... Cows, tractors, pigs, sheep, orchards, barns, semitrucks, working farm dogs who've never seen a pen or leash (not show dogs)... Our LIFE / jobs, income is rural. So are our homes (and grandpa's home too)

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by Dopo

This is what I can’t stand about solid red rural counties
They always preach about less government, less taxes, we don’t need no stinking government
Until they realize that they will not make progress without government


Final approval given to bill allocating $1.5 billion to broadband expansion in Texas

House Bill 9, filed by Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, would create the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund. The bill is accompanied by House Joint Resolution 125, which proposes a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval to create the fund.

“This represents a historic investment in connectivity infrastructure to meet the technological demands of the future,” Ashby told lawmakers Sunday. “And reaffirms our belief that all Texans deserve access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.”

I hear ya !

Was promised high speed by the Feds by 2011 out here. 2008 POTUS campaign promise. They said we want Federal tax dollars for this. "This is a shovel ready infrastructure project". Dems in solid control of all gubmint branches and . . . wait for it . . . they lied to us. Bastages !

Alas, finally the Republican state gubmint gets it done! Thank goodness! I've had my high speed out here in BFE for 2 months now ! I was really tired of waiting on the great hope of 'Murica to fulfill his promise to me.

Well, I'll continue to vote red as will 90% of my community! Skrew them sorry Dems . . . ultimate liars and not like the run of the mill Repub liars, those folks are beyond pros at it.

Well, back to surfing the WWW !

[WestGuest]

Originally Posted by BobTex

I hear ya !



Well, I'll continue to vote red as will 90% of my community! Skrew them sorry Dems . . . ultimate liars and not like the run of the mill Repub liars, those folks are beyond pros at it.

Well, back to surfing the WWW !

You do know Trump supporters have much lower educational attainment than normal people; if not check your writing.



The GOP has controlled every branch of Texas Govt since the late 90's. They called the Dems Tax and Spend" Please explain why Texas has cimbed to #3 in property tax rates while still being near the bottom in health and education.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by BobTex

I hear ya !

Was promised high speed by the Feds by 2011 out here. 2008 POTUS campaign promise. They said we want Federal tax dollars for this. "This is a shovel ready infrastructure project". Dems in solid control of all gubmint branches and . . . wait for it . . . they lied to us. Bastages !

Alas, finally the Republican state gubmint gets it done! Thank goodness! I've had my high speed out here in BFE for 2 months now ! I was really tired of waiting on the great hope of 'Murica to fulfill his promise to me.

Well, I'll continue to vote red as will 90% of my community! Skrew them sorry Dems . . . ultimate liars and not like the run of the mill Repub liars, those folks are beyond pros at it.

Well, back to surfing the WWW !

High speed internet access to more rural areas has been a campaign promise for POTUS for some time now and has never really materialized. What has been provided, when provided, has been unreliable RF Broadband access. Many corporations wanting to hire for remote work from home require hardwired access and do not want to deal with unreliable RF access.


The sad part of this whole debacle is that in many rural areas fiber backbones have been run through them to get from Point A to Point B (typically densely populated areas) and the fiber owners refuse to open the fiber for local access. Even if they did then other larger companies that provide the local house to house access wanted nothing to do with it as there was not enough subscribers to generate revenue from. Of course that was the whole purpose of the campaign infrastructure build-out promises that never materialized.


We are living a prime example of the greed of larger companies. A quarter mile away from me in this small town that is exploding with developments is a new and huge development. Fiber was never a hope out here but this development now has four major companies trenching through their yards laying fiber for access to the homes. And yet only 1/4 mile away we will never see them trench to us. One of those companies has actually run fiber on the electrical service poles along our road, right along the front of our property, to get to that development. And yet they refuse to provide drops to service the dozen homes along this road. It all goes back to the almighty dollar and yet that was what these supplements by the Federal Gubberment were all about.


It all goes back to the old saying "Money talks and BS walks" when it comes to campaign promises. If you want it you best be a big donor of the campaign or it just isn't going to happen!

[urbancuriosity]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

You do know Trump supporters have much lower educational attainment than normal people; if not check your writing.



The GOP has controlled every branch of Texas Govt since the late 90's. They called the Dems Tax and Spend" Please explain why Texas has cimbed to #3 in property tax rates while still being near the bottom in health and education.

Wow...that's a slam. You may want to check your own spelling as well.

[supfromthesite]

The group with the lowest education attainment votes democrat at a 90% rate.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

The group with the lowest education attainment votes democrat at a 90% rate.

[supfromthesite]

I never let school get in the way of my education.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

The group with the lowest education attainment votes democrat at a 90% rate.

Yes, my husband and I completely skew your perception of "uneducated people vote conservative."

In my rural area, we are VERY fortunate to have a local internet provider with fast speeds and pretty good reliability using line-of-sight towers. In the new housing developments, fiber optic cables are being run before the homes are even built, which makes all the rest of us very jealous! There is a company going around and signing people up for fiber optic internet, but they have yet to install in the promised areas that they signed up in 2022, so many people in my area are saying "we will subscribe when you actually lay the lines." If there was some sort of government financing available, then maybe they would actually get the installation done.