Tennessee is receiving $800 million in federal funding to expand broadband – a worthy endeavor to help spur daily necessities like commerce, healthcare and education that increasingly rely on high-speed internet. This is of particular interest to the Latino community which lags behind other groups in access.

♦️ OUR PROMISE TO TAXPAYERS

We remain committed to ensuring that taxpayer resources are efficiently and transparently invested to maximize access and not to fund government-owned networks to compete with existing private enterprise. One-time funding should not obligate taxpayers to maintain, expand, repair and update government networks at taxpayers’ expense. These risks should be undertaken by private companies and not taxpayers.

♦️ FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY STEWARDS TAXPAYER RESOURCES 

One of our four pillars is fiscal responsibility. We are laser focused on efficiently stewarding taxpayer resources. Our state must prioritize expanding access to underserved areas without funding unnecessary and wasteful government-owned networks.

♦️ GOVERNMENT-OWNED NETWORKS PUT TAXPAYERS AT RISK

Government-owned networks put taxpayers at risk of shouldering the long-term debt burden of failed networks. The costs to build, maintain, upgrade and expand networks should be borne by private companies alone, not taxpayers.

♦️ ACCOUNTABILITY TO TAXPAYERS THROUGH TRANSPARENCY

Policymakers need to make sure our state and municipalities follow conservative principles in helping expand access to broadband across the Volunteer State.

♦️ EFFICIENTLY EXPANDING ACCESS THROUGH PRIVATE PROVIDERS

The most efficient way to expand access is through incentivizing private networks to expand to underserved areas, not by building duplicative government networks oftentimes built by inexperienced organizations.

♦️ FAILED GOVERNMENT NETWORKS LEAVE TAXPAYERS ON THE HOOK 

There are examples across the country of failed government networks that put taxpayers at risk. For example, Bardstown, Kentucky had to sell their network because they could not afford costly upgrades and raising rates would make them even less competitive.