Washington Business Fall 2018 | Legislative Review & Vote Record | Page 17

washington business “We will continue to engage our lawmakers on solutions that can help all of Washington succeed.” —Mike Ennis, government affairs director, AWB tool that can help rural regions in all counties catch up and give employers more flexibility where they locate. That’s why access to broadband was among AWB’s top legislative objectives in the 2018 legislative session. AWB worked with stakeholders and lawmakers on about half a dozen rural broadband bills. The bill gaining the most traction was Senate Bill 5935, sponsored by Sens. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, and Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. The bill would have enhanced consumer options by creating a state office on broadband access and extending the Universal Communications Services (UCS) program. The original state broadband office was under the Department of Commerce and eliminated in 2014. The UCS program was created in 2014 to provide funding to small telecommunications companies meeting certain criteria. The program expires in 2019. The bill would have reestablished the broadband office under the governor, amended some eligibility criteria in the UCS program, and extended it to 2025. Sheldon contrasted the challenges in rural Washington to the impressive job growth underway in Seattle. “The rural communities have not shared,” Sheldon said in his testimony supporting the bill. “We have struggled.” Bringing telecommunications to rural areas, he said, would make a “huge, huge difference.” Carlyle, chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment and Technology Committee, noted that Washington has millions in state and federal funding for broadband, plus a robust private sector, with no overall plan to bring better coverage to underserved areas. Another bill would have allowed rural counties to impose an additional sales tax as a credit against the state sales tax. That money would be used exclusively to develop high-speed internet infrastructure in rural areas. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama. “In my discussions with a number of folks in my area, it became very clear that there are way too many people who are being left behind in our current economy because they don’t have broadband,” Orcutt said in a panel discussion at AWB’s Spring Meeting. Betty Buckley of the Washington Independent Telecommuni- cations Association also attended the panel discussion. She said it will take about $1 billion to build out Washington’s broadband infrastructure. “We as a state need to make the decision about whether or not we’re going to step up to that really big ugly number and make it happen.” Buckley said. awb is committed to practical solutions Broadband has evolved over the years as a basic tool that many families rely upon to pay bills, work remotely, work from home or find a new job. Those without reliable access can be placed at a competitive disadvantage, Ennis said. Communities without broadband will have a harder time attracting young people who have left for college to move back to their hometowns and start a family, for example. At the same time AWB works with lawmakers on a legislative solution, the private sector is also doing its part to increase rural broadband availability. Companies like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile, and dozens of smaller rural providers have worked hard for many years to bring fast and reliable internet service to the people of Washington state. In the last five years alone, these businesses have invested nearly $9.5 billion in telecom infrastructure across the state. And their investments aren’t just about fiber and hardware, they’re also about people. Telecom companies employ about 22,000 Washingtonians, all with high-tech, family-wage jobs. “We have never been as connected as we are today because of that investment,” Ennis said. “But we still have work to do to close the digital divide and help create new jobs in rural communities.” Washington’s rural coun ties have fallen behind urban areas in several key economic indicators like unemployment and median wages. Many small towns are struggling, even as the Puget Sound booms. This uneven prosperity spurred AWB to convene Washington’s lawmakers, employers and community leaders to find solutions. AWB jump-started the conversation on the urban-rural economic divide in Washington last year with two Rural Jobs Summits. This led to the creation of a Rural Jobs Task Force, chaired by Alex McGregor of The McGregor Company. In addition to broadband, other rural jobs priorities include improving job creation and workforce development, lowering the business and occupation tax rate for manufacturing, and investing in infrastructure throughout the state. For more information and to get involved in AWB’s Rural Jobs Task Force or to attend AWB’s next Rural Jobs Summit, contact Mike Ennis at 360.943.1600 or [email protected]. special edition 2018 15