{"id":39989,"date":"2021-02-09T10:32:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T15:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/?p=39989"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:32:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T15:32:23","slug":"gov-bill-lee-calls-for-one-time-200-million-broadband-investment-in-state-of-the-state-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/2021\/02\/gov-bill-lee-calls-for-one-time-200-million-broadband-investment-in-state-of-the-state-address\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Bill Lee calls for one-time $200 million broadband investment in State of the State address"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\"><span class=\" author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qovumbz67zcz77zz82zz80zz69zz76zlz65zby5z79zz72zz67zz69zez65zz90zw0z79zsz71zhez75zz78z\">Funds<\/span><span class=\" author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qovumbz67zcz77zz82zz80zz69zz76zlz65zby5z79zz72zz67zz69zez65zz90zw0z79zsz71zhez75zz78z\"> would help nearly every community gain access to high-speed broadband<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-39990\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-532x800.jpeg\" alt=\"Bill Lee\" width=\"300\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-532x800.jpeg 532w, https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-1064x1600.jpeg 1064w, https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-226x340.jpeg 226w, https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-1022x1536.jpeg 1022w, https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee-1362x2048.jpeg 1362w, https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bill-lee.jpeg 1437w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>During his third State of the State address, Gov. Bill Lee proposed a one-time $200 million investment in rural broadband, which is a huge increase from $15 million in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Especially in rural areas, the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear just how vital access to fast and reliable fiber internet is, now and in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether it\u2019s running a small business, accessing virtual learning or accessing health care via telemedicine, slow internet speeds have many in rural Tennessee left at a disadvantage,\u201d Gov. Lee said in his address. \u201cI\u2019ve proposed record investments in broadband since becoming governor, and I\u2019m grateful for this legislature\u2019s support on that issue. But I\u2019m ready for us to solve this issue once and for all. A significant, one-time investment, combined with significant private investment, will get broadband to just about every community in Tennessee, and tonight, that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m proposing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Broadband expansion is vital to improve educational outcomes, access to telemedicine, business performance and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRural Tennesseans need access to fiber broadband now more than ever for education, work, health care and entertainment,\u201d Levoy Knowles, Tennessee Broadband Association executive director said. \u201cWe are beyond grateful for Gov. Lee\u2019s continued commitment to rural broadband in Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Gov. Lee\u2019s State of the State address, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/\">https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Funds would help nearly every community gain access to high-speed broadband During his third State of the State address, Gov. Bill Lee proposed a one-time $200 million investment in rural broadband, which is a huge increase from $15 million in 2020. Especially in rural areas, the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear just how vital access&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennesseebroadband.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}