Paul J. Phillips: Bill Bolton is the broadband leader we need in the NH Senate.

To The Daily Sun,

The COVID pandemic has highlighted the gaps in broadband coverage in rural New Hampshire. Our State needs leaders who can close these gaps as quickly and completely as possible. That’s why I’m supporting Bill Bolton for NH Senate District 2.

Bill understands the hole that New Hampshire has dug itself into with broadband. The 2012 Republican-led legislature deregulated broadband services, which left any hope for universal broadband coverage in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission. Trump’s election in 2016 dashed that hope, as the FCC immediately scrapped the Obama Administration’s universal coverage plan.

Other states stepped up to provide statewide mapping of unserved locations and to fund construction to connect those locations. Structurally, New Hampshire lacks sufficient state revenues to take on those challenges. So once again, New Hampshire has neither a carrot nor a stick to move forward on statewide broadband coverage.

This year, the legislature passed HB 1111, which allows municipalities to fund local broadband projects with tax and revenue bonds and to band together into “communications districts” to fund these projects. These are good steps, but they are nowhere near enough to close New Hampshire’s broadband gaps and keep our State competitive with its regional neighbors. HB 1111 once again shifts the State’s responsibilities onto local property taxpayers. New Hampshire’s property tax is simply stretched too thin to fund the kind of robust broadband buildouts that will quickly close our connectivity gaps.

HB 1111 was enacted because New Hampshire lacks the leadership to address broadband issues on a statewide basis. We need leaders like Bill Bolton to take on this challenge and to drive solutions that will close our broadband gaps, keep our State competitive, and build an economic future for our communities. Please join me in voting for Bill Bolton in NH Senate District 2 on November 3rd.

Paul J. Phillips

Plymouth