Senate finance panel advances SB152 to expand broadband affordability program

The Senate Finance Committee advanced a committee substitute for SB152, a bill to sustain broadband repair and expansion funding and to create a state low-income telecommunications assistance program intended to replace lost federal benefits. Sponsor Senator Michael Padilla told the panel New Mexico has won “a $382,000,000 federal grant coming into New Mexico” and described the substitute as removing a sunset and leaving $18 million a year for repair and maintenance and $12.5 million a year for expansion while enabling the affordability fund to increase from $10 million to as much as $45 million in subsequent years.