Bill Description: House Bill 127 creates the Idaho broadband advisory board and the Idaho broadband fund.

Rating: -2

Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government? Conversely, does it eliminate or curtail the size or scope of government?

House Bill 127 creates Section 67-4760, Idaho Code, to create the Idaho broadband fund in the state treasury. This fund is for money "appropriated by the legislature for the purpose of providing financial assistance in broadband infrastructure to promote equal access in economic development, public safety, telehealth, and education."

Broadband is a commercial service. It should not be subsidized by the state. 

(-1)

House Bill 127 creates Section 67-4761, Idaho Code, to create the Idaho broadband advisory board. 

One purpose of this board is to create "a statewide broadband plan that will determine the manner of structuring, prioritizing, and dispersing grants from the Idaho broadband fund to areas of the state that are most in need and shall have the authority to determine which broadband projects are undertaken pursuant to this section."

Again, broadband is a commercial service. It should not be subsidized by the state. 

(-1)