Marksville Rep Daryl Andrew Deshotel
A bill to create a grant program for the $180-million dollars in federal funds dedicated for broadband expansion in the state heads to the Senate floor today. Marksville Representative Daryl Deshotel said House Bill 648 establishes a structure in which unserved communities can apply for funding.
“The bill sets up some guidelines and some framework of what that program would look like. Currently, the way the bill is set the Office of Broadband will be the office that’s going to be administering that grant,” said Deshotel.
Deshotel said upon passage he hopes the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities, also known as GUMBO, can get things kicked off as soon as it is signed by the governor.
“So, we’re hoping to have it out in September, October timeframe. Have awards in the latter part of the year, and hopefully, we’ll start seeing some construction beginning at the first of next year,” said Deshotel.
Deshotel said the state currently has about 1.2 million residents who do not have access to broadband.
“The Department of Ed says that’s about 220,000 I think or 250,000 kids that were unable to do distance learning this past year during the pandemic and that’s just unacceptable,” said Deshotel.
The bill received unanimous passage in the House.
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