Democrat policy at federal level could harm one of Gov. Kelly's biggest agenda items

While Governor Laura Kelly, and the media surrounding her, mostly talk about expanding Medicaid, the Democratic governor actually has another big agenda item that doesn’t get highlighted as frequently. This agenda item would be her expansion of high-speed internet to all Kansans across the state so that rural communities will have just as fast internet as those living in cities like Wichita and Kansas City.

This week alone, Gov. Kelly announced $14.7 million in grant awards through the Advancing Digital Opportunities to Promote Technology (ADOPT) program for organizations addressing the challenges of broadband accessibility, affordability, and device availability. She also announced $28.5 million in grants to 12 entities through the Lasting Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (LINC) program. Additionally, another $11.6 million was invested for high-speed broadband access projects across 10 rural Kansas counties.

These numbers may seem big (and they are), but here is one even bigger: Expanding high-speed internet access across Kansas is so important to Gov. Kelly that back in September it was revealed that Kansas would be going on a five-year, $451 million project to expand high-speed internet statewide.

However, back in October, Democrats at the federal level decided to push for an Obama-era policy that former President Trump had rescinded. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 on a proposal to reinstate net neutrality, which would give the government commission, not private businesses, power over broadband internet.

The main reason Democrats cite for wanting more government control over the internet is so that it’s open access for everyone. However, when the policy was done away with in 2017, broadband speeds increased, prices began to go down, and competition intensified for private online businesses.

Gov. Kelly has invested millions of taxpayer dollars into bringing high-speed internet to all Kansans regardless of where they’re at in the state. However, with this push for net neutrality from Democrats at the federal level, it could be extremely likely that that new high-speed internet will not be as high-speed as it could be under a more free-market internet approach.