At 807 pages, the new Farm Bill takes a bit to read through. We've mentioned the SNAP debate and industrial hemp legalization, but here are a few more provisions of interest to rural Americans:
The bill could grant the U.S. Department of Agriculture more authority to dispense $350 million a year in grants and loans for local rural broadband buildout, but only for areas where service speeds are slower than 10 Mbps downloads and 1 Mbps uploads. That's lower than the Federal Communications Commission's threshold for broadband, which is 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads, Dave Nyczepir notes for Route Fifty. Also, USDA launched a pilot project Thursday to allocate an extra $600 million from the 2018 omnibus bill for encouraging private investment in rural broadband, using the 10 Mbps rule. That means some rural residents could be caught in the middle, with speeds too high for federal aid but too low to get first-class service.
Another problem with awarding such grants and loans is that the FCC's map of internet service provider coverage may be inaccurate.
"The Farm Bill does, however, direct grant funding more toward places with low population densities, while using loans for those with higher densities—a win for rural areas that limits providers’ ability to reserve service for more populated communities," Nyczepir reports. "Instead, the Farm Bill will enable co-ops to both modernize the electric grid and offer retail broadband to consumers." Rural areas that do well with the initial funds could be rewarded with more federal funding. The bill also requires USDA to restore an undersecretary for Rural Development.
The bill could also help rural hospitals. It "includes a provision that would allow rural hospitals to refinance substantial debt through lower-interest loans" from USDA, Susannah Luthi reports for Modern Healthcare. "Rural hospital lobbyists acknowledge the provision won't change much overnight for the 44 percent of rural hospitals which operate at a loss. The USDA requires applicants to show levels of financial viability that the really struggling hospitals likely can't currently meet." But longer-term, the provision could "transform finances" for rural hospitals, allowing them to get lower interest rates on USDA loans, Luthi reports.
The bill could grant the U.S. Department of Agriculture more authority to dispense $350 million a year in grants and loans for local rural broadband buildout, but only for areas where service speeds are slower than 10 Mbps downloads and 1 Mbps uploads. That's lower than the Federal Communications Commission's threshold for broadband, which is 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads, Dave Nyczepir notes for Route Fifty. Also, USDA launched a pilot project Thursday to allocate an extra $600 million from the 2018 omnibus bill for encouraging private investment in rural broadband, using the 10 Mbps rule. That means some rural residents could be caught in the middle, with speeds too high for federal aid but too low to get first-class service.
Another problem with awarding such grants and loans is that the FCC's map of internet service provider coverage may be inaccurate.
"The Farm Bill does, however, direct grant funding more toward places with low population densities, while using loans for those with higher densities—a win for rural areas that limits providers’ ability to reserve service for more populated communities," Nyczepir reports. "Instead, the Farm Bill will enable co-ops to both modernize the electric grid and offer retail broadband to consumers." Rural areas that do well with the initial funds could be rewarded with more federal funding. The bill also requires USDA to restore an undersecretary for Rural Development.
The bill could also help rural hospitals. It "includes a provision that would allow rural hospitals to refinance substantial debt through lower-interest loans" from USDA, Susannah Luthi reports for Modern Healthcare. "Rural hospital lobbyists acknowledge the provision won't change much overnight for the 44 percent of rural hospitals which operate at a loss. The USDA requires applicants to show levels of financial viability that the really struggling hospitals likely can't currently meet." But longer-term, the provision could "transform finances" for rural hospitals, allowing them to get lower interest rates on USDA loans, Luthi reports.
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