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House adopts changes to municipal broadband rules, requiring voter approval and feasibility steps
Summary
The House adopted a second substitute to SB 165 to add procedural guardrails for cities seeking to build municipal broadband, including public feasibility studies, hearings and voter approval for debt. Supporters said it increases transparency; opponents called it an intrusion on local control.
The House adopted a second substitute to SB 165 on municipal broadband projects, approving the change and moving the substituted bill forward for further consideration.
Representative Ryan D. Wilcox, the House sponsor, said the bill focuses on new municipal broadband projects and does not affect existing municipal fiber networks. He described the substitute as returning the bill to "how it was originally introduced" and said it removed a two-track approval system so that voter approval for municipal debt would be on a…
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