New initiative seeks workers and tourists to Monadnock region
The collaborative has some 475 members spread across communities in the region and representing a broad range of business, health care and education interests.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) are working together on bipartisan bills aimed at helping states and municipalities spur investment in rural broadband projects.
The Rural Broadband Investment Tax Credit Act, sponsored by Hassan and co-sponsored by Capito, would create a federal tax credit that states and localities could direct toward rural broadband projects.
A bill sponsored by Capito and co-sponsored by Hassan, the Rural Broadband Financing Flexibility Act, would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance public-private rural broadband projects, and allow the federal government to assist state and local governments in bond payments.
A New Hampshire law that took effect last year allows local governments to pursue financing options for broadband projects.