Press Release: Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address on Proposed Historic Investment in Expanding Access and Affordability of High-Speed Internet

State of Wisconsin sent this bulletin at 05/18/2023 10:29 AM CDT
Office of Governor Tony Evers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2023
Contact: GovPress@wisconsin.gov 
 
Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address on Proposed Historic Investment in Expanding Access and Affordability of High-Speed Internet
 
Audio File of Radio Address.

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered the Democratic Radio Address highlighting his plan to expand high-speed internet across Wisconsin, including a historic investment of $750 million for the Broadband Expansion Grant Program. This historic proposal builds upon the governor’s previous record-setting investments to expand broadband across the state and is more than four times larger than the total funding provided to the grant program over Gov. Evers’ past two budgets. More information regarding Gov. Evers’ plan to invest in broadband access and affordability is available here.

Hey there, Governor Tony Evers here.

Folks, expanding access to high-speed internet across Wisconsin has been a top priority for my administration since Day One—no administration in state history has done more to expand access to high-speed internet than we have.

Since 2019, we’ve allocated more than $340 million to ensure more than 390,000 homes and businesses will have new or improved, reliable, high-speed internet.

And in 2021, I declared it the Year of Broadband Access so we could continue to make meaningful progress forward on our efforts to get folks and families connected.

But there is still more work to do. We have to make sure that our infrastructure is prepared to support a workforce and economy of the 21st century.

Because having access to reliable, high-speed internet is a necessity for how we do work, how we learn, how we see our doctors, how we stay connected to our communities, and so much more.

That’s why my budget proposal includes a historic $750 million investment for our Broadband Expansion Grant Program, which is more than four times more than our previous record-setting investments.

The digital divide is holding our kids and families, our communities, and our economy back, and at the end of the day, the longer it takes to get everybody connected, the more costly it becomes for our state to catch up.

We have a historic $7 billion surplus and with it, a historic opportunity to invest in needs that have long been neglected.

So, I hope the Legislature will join me in taking this historic opportunity to close the divide, invest in our communities, and to keep our economic momentum strong.

Let’s get this done. Thank you.
 
An online version of this release is available here.
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