STEPHEN KULIK
(D – WORTHINGTON)
BOSTON – A $50 million Information Technology Bond Bill was approved unanimously in both the House of Representatives and State Senate yesterday, providing half the funding needed to connect the most rural towns in western Massachusetts to high speed broadband Internet access.
Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), who helped draft the House’s version of the bill, titled an Act Relative to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, and has called the bond bill passed yesterday a “seperate companion piece” to the broadband bill passed last week.
“The legislation is going to enable that $50 million to be spent in innovative and flexible ways to address the needs of different kinds of communities,” Kulik said earlier this week. “They very much compliment each other and one needs the other to get our last mile initiative underway.”
SENATOR BENJAMIN DOWNING
Kulik referenced Chester and Huntington as communities which are partially served by Comcast for cable television and will benefit from the bond bill, a portion of which will be go to completely outfit partially served communities.
Earlier this week, State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield), who authored the Senate’s version of the broadband bill, said that the next step is to get these funds to the communities as soon as possible.
“Once they (these towns) have the resources, the Patrick administration will develop a plan for the rollout of those resources,” said Downing Monday. “We’ll be bringing the conversation out to western Mass., with the Broadband Institute and others, about the different options before communities. This last mile is going to be driven by local communities saying what they want – how they want the dollars invested and what role they can play in increasing those investments.”
Following the vote Tuesday, Kulik said that the bill was given an emergency preamble, which makes the legislation effective immediately.
“It will come up once again tomorrow for final enactment, which is just routine and will probably also be unanimous,” he said, adding that the voting was conducted as a simple yes or no. “Because it’s a conference report, the different versions between the House and Senate have been resolved. The report comes before the House and Senate and can’t be further amended at all. It’s just an up or down vote.”
DONALD HUMASON JR.
“It’s been a dream for the hilltowns for a long time to get cable and wireless,” said Sen. Don Humason, Jr. (R-Westfield), whose 2nd Hampden-Hampshire District encompasses the hilltowns of Granville, Montgomery, Russell and Tolland, all of whom will benefit from the funding.
“Russell has it’s own cable system and tries to provide computer services through that, but it’s pretty low end,” he said. “But as soon as you get up into Huntington and points beyond, it’s almost like they’re at the end of the line. Almost all of Berkshire County is underserved or unserved completely, and this last mile project is something the Commonwealth has been working on for awhile.”
“Better broadband Internet means better business and better telecommuting, things that other areas of the state already enjoy,” Humason said. “It’s just going to be beneficial for the economy and quality of life for my constituents in these towns.”
The bill will now proceed to the desk of Governor Deval L. Patrick, who Kulik believes will receive the bill by the end of the day tomorrow following final enactment.
