February 7, 2022

Illinois Senate Executive Committee
Illinois State Capitol
401 South 2nd Street
Springfield, Illinois 62701

Dear Senator,

On behalf of the 66,373 members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste in Illinois, I urge you to support SB 3683, which would establish a grant funding program for the deployment of broadband to unserved areas of the state.

This bill focuses funding on unserved areas and provides guardrails to help reduce the potential for wasteful spending.  It prohibits the distribution of funds to government entities and educational institutions.  Broadband grant programs are most effective when they do not provide money to government-owned networks or entities, or to areas that already have broadband access.

The bill also prohibits the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity from imposing any unrelated conditions to broadband deployment like requiring an open network architecture, rate regulation, or other harmful regulations that could impede broadband deployment.  Broadband funding should not set a preference for any vendor or technology.  Funding requirements should be transparent and prevent overbuilding existing broadband networks. 

SB 3683 provides oversight of the progress of all projects funded through these grants.  The bill requires recipients to provide a semi-annual progress report from the time the grant award is received until three years after the completion of the project.  The funding requirements, transparency, and oversight will help assure that broadband grant funding will be directed to the communities that need it most.

            Once again, I urge you to support SB 3683.

Sincerely,
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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