[News] Minnesota Clears Path for Community-Owned Broadband

The following article was published by Broadband Breakfast:

Minnesota state lawmakers repealed two state laws on Wednesday, effectively removing barriers preventing cities and towns from providing municipal broadband services.

The legislative change reduces the number of states with laws preempting local governments from building their own broadband networks to 16. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 19 states held laws preventing community broadband networks.

The rollback of Minnesota’s preemption laws comes at a critical moment as states will soon begin to select grant recipients under a $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

The full article is available here.