Two bills that made it out of the committee level in the Iowa House are designed to expand access to broadband internet throughout the state.

District 47 State Representative Chip Baltimore of Boone is excited for the bills because it was something he lobbied for last year when the bill didn’t make it through the House.

“We had a handful of Republicans in the House that couldn’t support it for one reason or another.  So we were only able to get 46 Republicans on board with it.  (House) Democrats had indicated that they were supportive, or at least enough of them were, to get 51.  And unfortunately when time came to vote on it, the House Democrats could only come up with two votes in favor of the broadband bill last year, so it failed.”

There are two bills associated with expanding broadband internet access.  One is Governor Terry Branstad’s “Connect Every Acre” initiative and the other bill is for rules where cell towers can be located.

The Representative from Boone is on the Commerce Committee where the bill originally was passed out of last week.  Baltimore is hopeful that the bill will be brought to the House floor before going to the Senate for consideration.