CAPITOL BEAT
Georgia will receive $1.3 billion out of a $42 billion nationwide federal investment in broadband expansion, the largest in U.S. history, the Biden administration announced Monday.
The funding, which comes from the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill Congress passed in 2021, will expand broadband and strengthen access to affordable, high-speed internet across the state, particularly for the estimated 15% of Georgians who currently lack reliable broadband access.
The money will be distributed to various local contractors by the Georgia Technology Authority to build out the state’s broadband network.
“This is great news for our state,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who hosted Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), last year at a public forum in Jackson County on the need for broadband expansion.
“This federal investment means life will get easier for hundreds of thousands of Georgians and provides the tools and infrastructure our communities need to be competitive in the 21st century.”
Warnock has raised concerns about the accuracy of a broadband map the FCC put together. He said up to 220,000 Georgia locations that lack high-speed internet service may be missing from the FCC map.
GBI Director Register headed back to Cobb County
The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is returning to a former job after less than a year at the helm of the state agency.
The Cobb County Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on making Mike Register the county’s director of public safety.
Register served in that post as well as chief of police in Cobb County and assistant chief of the Cobb County Sheriff’s office before Gov.
Brian Kemp appointed him to the GBI post last August.
“I greatly appreciate Director Register’s service in this vitally important public safety role for our state, and we wish him and his family well in their next chapter,” Kemp said late Thursday.
“The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and its future success will continue to be a top priority of my administration as we work to keep Georgia families safe and support our local law enforcement partners across the state.”
Register will remain at the GBI through July. An announcement on his successor will come later.
Ossoff backing bill to increase military housing allowance
Junior enlisted military personnel would receive a higher housing allowance under bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress this week by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
Ossoff led an eight-month investigation last year that called attention to the poor condition of privatized housing at the Army’s Fort Gordon near Augusta. During that time, he said he heard from many military families about the challenges of finding affordable housing in their communities.
“Military families make immense sacrifices in our national defense,” Ossoff told reporters Friday during a news conference. “Junior uniformed personnel are not well paid. Their housing allowance is too low. This bipartisan legislation will modernize the formula the Department of Defense uses.”
Currently, the military is not permitted to take local housing costs into account in determining the housing allowance for junior enlisted personnel.
