(Part 5 in an 11-week economic plan to get Michigan moving again and get our people back to work)

In 1935, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Rural Electrification Administration; Congress followed Roosevelt’s lead the following year by passing the Rural Electification Act, called one of the most important elements of the New Deal. Prior to Roosevelt’s action, just 10% of rural families had electricity, a number that jumped to 40% of rural households in five short years! Congress amended the REA in 1949 to extend telephone service to rural areas, and today the agency also helps modernize water and sewer systems in our rural communities.

By making loans available to local electrification cooperative, which were often driven by farmers, the Rural Electrification Act helped farmers modernize their operations, provided the encouragement necessary for private electric companies to connect rural households (which ultimately lowered electric rates), and made it possible for businesses to remain and grow in rural America.

So what?

Well, as important as extending electricity to rural areas was to reviving the economy of the 1930s, access to broadband is at least as important to growing Michigan’s economy today. Indeed, as former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and media expert Robert McChesney noted, broadband represents “a technology that, in terms of powering economies, could be the 21st century equivalent of electricity.” Moreover, while many assume that access to broadband is universal, 60% of American households do not have access to broadband either because it is unavailable or unaffordable, and our global position is getting worse: “since 2001, according to the International Telecommunications Union, the United States has fallen from fourth to 16th in the world in broadband penetration.”

We can do better.  Indeed, a number of efforts to expand access to broadband are already underway in our communities.

Fittingly, many of those leading the charge to connect our local rural areas to high speed internet are also farmers, inheritors of the legacy left by those who helped bring electricity to rural America nearly 75 years ago. In my experience as co-chair of the economic development committee for the Northport-Omena Chamber of Commerce, it was a local cherry grower, concerned about his ability to conduct his business in the 21^st century without high speed internet, that led our local efforts to bring broadband to those parts of Leelanau Township that currently have only dial-up.

Access to broadband is particularly important to employers and employees alike in an era of high gas prices. Some states are already experimenting with the idea of a four-day work week, and at least one Michigan county is following suit. While many of these changes are simply a reshuffling of hours, efforts to expand broadband connections can help accelerate these workforce changes. In addition, an increasing percentage of our workforce – especially the knowledge workers Michigan is trying hard to attract – are able to work from anywhere they have a high speed connection. With all that Michigan has to offer, from natural beauty of our state to the unique character of our communities, we need to ensure we’re not placing obstacles in the way of these knowledge workers locating their business operations in Michigan.

I have seen first-hand the opportunity access to broadband presents for Michigan’s economy. My work with my local chamber of commerce on these issues, as well as knowing people across the district who would be forced to live and do business elsewhere without access to high speed internet, have made me a true believer in the economic impact a more aggressive broadband strategy can have. Indeed, according to a 2001 study from the Brookings Institution, the widespread adoption of basic broadband could add $500 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.2 million new jobs per year. Here in Michigan, we simply cannot afford to allow those jobs to pass us by, and as State Representative I will work to ensure we’re enabling all Michigan residents – regardless of where they live – to plug into the economic opportunities broadband access can provide.