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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 26, 2021 11:50 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Pam Snyder |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Establishing and Expanding Modern Broadband Speeds |
| The speed of the modern economy is measured in Mbps or megabits per second. The faster your broadband internet speed, the more likely your business will survive in the modern economy. However, in rural areas we have abandoned Pennsylvanians with internet speeds that were outdated 20 years ago. In large parts of our state, we are not meeting the speeds needed to help our local businesses, ensure our children can learn, or even watch a movie on a streaming service. Under the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policy, broadband service should meet a minimum of 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload. However, under Pennsylvania law these standards are 1.544 megabits per second download speed and 128 kilobits per second upload speed. My bill will increase the speeds to that of the FCC (including allowing them to increase again when future FCC increases occur), allow municipalities to offer broadband, and authorize an electric utility or other electricity supplier to install and maintain above ground broadband internet service infrastructure for internal/external use. Please use whatever broadband speed currently at your disposal and join me to support improved broadband speeds for our Commonwealth. |
Introduced as HB1488