King Seeking to Open Door for Rural Communities to Access Broadband Grants, Disaster Assistance

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced his support for the Revitalizing Underdeveloped Rural Areas and Lands (RURAL) Act, a bipartisan bill that will fuel innovation, preserve jobs and encourage infrastructure development by ensuring that tax-exempt electrical cooperatives can access government grants and assistance -- including rural broadband grants and FEMA disaster relief. Under a provision of the current tax code instituted by the 2017 tax bill, acceptance of a government grant could imperil an electrical cooperative's tax-exempt status -- and, accordingly, imperil its ability to provide electrical service to rural customers. This legislation provides certainty for co-ops looking to utilize government resources to provide critical services to their members, such as broader access to high-speed internet or repairs to the electrical grid.

"Rural Maine communities need resources to provide accessible high-speed broadband and reliable grid infrastructure in order to thrive economically, educationally, and socially," said Senator King. "Tax-exempt co-ops do a significant amount of work to address these basic needs, and we should be incentivizing them to explore every avenue to accomplish these goals -- not punishing them for using the resources designed to aid their efforts."

Source