As has been reported thousands of times over the last decade, rural America is struggling. Jobs are leaving, new investment is low, access to health care is dwindling, and educational opportunities are often out of reach. These struggles extend to rural Georgia as well, struggles which the Georgia legislature has long worked to address. There have been many proposals, but that has yet to translate into much measurable success for millions of people living outside of Georgia’s major metro areas.
One reason for this is that too few of these potential solutions address the foundation of solving the problem: infrastructure. Tax credits and other incentives may be attractive, but without the fundamental tools of doing business, setting up shop in rural communities is simply not an option.
Fortunately, there is a renewed push at the legislature this year to address one such foundational issue, broadband internet access. Much like electricity and running water, internet access has become a staple of day-to-day life for citizens and business owners. Businesses drive traffic through their websites, they use complex cloud software to track operations, and they keep employees connected through the internet. Any business larger than a few people would likely struggle without high-speed broadband access.
As a result, it is unlikely that businesses with the kind of revenue and job creation potential needed to revitalize rural communities would choose to move there without guaranteed access to broadband. Legislators now seem to share that point of view as well, with multiple bills having already been introduced to address expanding broadband access this year. While these bills are still in nascent stages and will no doubt see revisions over the next few weeks, they represent a promising step in the right direction.
The path that rural Georgia is on right now is unsustainable. There are families that have lived in the hundreds of small towns dotting the Georgia countryside for generations. Lawmakers at the General Assembly owe them just as much attention, if not more, than Atlanta and other major metro areas. Big cities are flourishing, but it should not come at the expense of the communities that have long helped make Georgia what it is today. Rural broadband expansion may only be a single step, but it is an important one on the road to bringing prosperity back to our entire state.
