Mississippi Lawmakers Pass Bill Freeing Electric Co-Ops to Provide Broadband

statement. Public Service Commission Chairman Brandon Presley said the bill "will help improve the lives of people across Mississippi in many ways -- from education to medicine to economic development and beyond.” The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association "supports legislative efforts like this one that seek to remove barriers standing between rural communities and the economic benefits of broadband access," a spokesperson said. Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Director Christopher Mitchell praised the bill. “Cooperatives brought electricity and telephone to rural regions across the country and they are once again being called into action,” he emailed. “I hope the FCC notices and ceases its wasteful practice of subsidizing the biggest companies that have no intention of providing good services in states like Mississippi. It is well past time we redirect those monies to the cooperatives that will.”