The following article was published by Broadband Breakfast:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, selected by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate for the upcoming November election, took decisive action in May by signing a law that dismantled barriers to local government ownership of broadband networks in Minnesota.
By signing the bill, Walz ensured that local governments in his state can compete with Comcast and Mediacom for federal broadband grant money supplied by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to connect unserved and underserved households.
Walz’s signature repealed two laws to promote the rollout of government-owned networks. One bill repealed a law that required municipalities to secure a supermajority vote in a local referendum to buy or construct "telephone exchanges." Although originally intended to regulate telephone service, the law had been interpreted to impose the same supermajority requirement for building of municipal broadband networks.
Walz also repealed a state statute that allowed municipalities to improve, construct, extend, and maintain facilities for internet access only if no private provider was offering service in that municipality – a change in law that set up direct competition between government-owned networks and privately backed ISPs.
Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, praised the Walz selection.
"It's heartening that Gov. Walz understands the value of public broadband and local control, enough so that he signed a law repealing restrictions on community broadband in Minnesota," Sohn said.
The full article is available here.