SLS 16RS-3766 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 163
BY SENATOR BROWN
GOVERNOR. Requests governor to seek federal funding to provide high-speed broadband
Internet to all Louisiana citizens.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Honorable John Bel Edwards, Governor of the state of Louisiana,
3 to take all necessary action to seek federal funding to provide high-speed broadband
4 Internet to all Louisiana citizens.
5 WHEREAS, access to high-speed broadband is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity
6 for families, businesses, and consumers, a key competitive factor for economic development,
7 education, and quality of life, and vital to full participation in economic, educational,
8 political, and social life; and
9 WHEREAS, Louisiana is the 36th most broadband connected state in the nation with
10 only 77% of the state's population having access to 25+ mbps wired broadband, 19% of the
11 state's citizens are underserved with access to less than two wired providers, and 250,000
12 people do not have any wired internet provider available where they live, all according to
13 BroadbandNow, which particularly impacts persons in high poverty and in remote urban and
14 rural areas of the state; and
15 WHEREAS, funding for broadband projects, including deployment, public access,
16 adoption, and planning initiatives, is available through a number of federal agencies.
17 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
18 does hereby urge and request the Honorable John Bel Edwards, Governor of the state of
Page 1 of 2 SR NO. 163
SLS 16RS-3766 ORIGINAL
1 Louisiana, to take all necessary action to seek federal funding to provide high-speed
2 broadband Internet to all Louisiana citizens.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
4 governor of the state of Louisiana.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SR 163 Original 2016 Regular Session Brown
Requests the governor to take all necessary action to seek federal funding to provide
high-speed broadband Internet to all Louisiana citizens.
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