As they debate whether to let electric membership corporations sell broadband internet, some Georgia lawmakers are debating whether they demand enough in return.
State Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, amended a bill Tuesday morning requiring that EMCs provide high-speed internet to all residents now without access. The bill is supposed to provide broadband to more rural areas.
Right now, lawmakers argue, many rural residents don’t have access to fast internet because companies believe the investment will lose money. Homes in those communities are too spread out; there aren’t enough customers to pay back the infrastructure costs.
But the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Steve Gooch, said Cowsert’s amendment is too tough on EMCs. With this requirement, he argued, they won’t even try to add broadband at all.
“That’s a poison pill in this bill,” Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said during a Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee hearing Tuesday. “And in my opinion, we might as well stop now and go home, unless we’re going to require [private companies] to do the same thing. Then you level the playing field.”