Iowa’s House District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen says he is lucky to have been entrusted with Governor Kim Reynolds’ bill on broadband access through the House Information Technology committee.

Sorensen says discussion about broadband access statewide has evolved greatly in the past year.

“At the time, pre-pandemic, it was a little bit of a hard sell to get any kind of appropriation for incentive or to make people understand where we ranked nationally for speed and the importance of it. It wasn’t just a luxury anymore; it’s an absolute necessity in the way of life. Then, the pandemic hit and I didn’t have to do as much preaching in caucus on how important an internet connection was. We found out all very quickly how important a strong internet connection was.”

Sorensen and a group of fellow representatives bonded over the issue from day one, although they’ve yet to trademark their group’s name.

“Back when I very first ran and even before I was sworn in for my very first term, we kind of formed this little group we started dubbing the ‘Broadband Bros.’ It was me, Representative [Brian] Lohse, Representative [Phil] Thompson, Representative [Dustin] Hite and one of our staffers. We all kind of sat down and we all understood the importance of the lack, underserved and not served people in Iowa in relation to their internet service.”

With the help of the Broadband Bros, the governor has planned $450 million in spending to begin alleviating the issue of broadband access throughout Iowa.