'Digital Divide' Must Stay Online In 2008 Session

Albany, N.Y.— As Governor Eliot Spitzer prepares to deliver what’s being billed as an "Upstate State of the State" address in Buffalo on Wednesday, State Senator George H. Winner, Jr. (R-C-I, Elmira) said today that he hopes the governor’s second major speech in 2008 will emphasize the need to expand high-speed Internet services to unserved and underserved regions across New York.

Winner noted that Spitzer’s traditional State of the State message to the Legislature in Albany last Wednesday failed to highlight New York’s "digital divide."

"The availability of high-speed Internet will be as important in the modern economy as high-quality roads and bridges," said Winner. "I was surprised that the governor failed to mention New York’s ‘digital divide’ in last week’s State of the State message. It was a glaring omission. We’ll be listening for it this time around."

Winner said that the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources (LCRR), which he chairs, has estimated that at least 750,000 rural New Yorkers do not have high-speed Internet access through either cable modem, DSL, fiber, or wireless service. He said that he would be using the joint, bipartisan commission to continue to advance rural economic development policies that he believes are vital to the future of the region and all of upstate, including the expansion of high-speed Internet to rural areas. Winner sponsored a new law in 2006 directing several state agencies to issue recommendations on ways to expand high-speed Internet access to rural and other underserved areas."These recommendations can help build one key foundation for bringing the excitement and prosperity of the modern, innovation economy to rural New York. The economic opportunities are going to be there, but upstate communities have to be ready to take advantage of them," said Winner.

Last year’s state budget included $5 million to begin laying the groundwork for what Winner and others hope will be a much broader effort to enhance the availability -- and affordability -- of high-speed Internet service.

Winner noted that the first true signs of the governor’s commitment to action on this front will come in his speech on Wednesday and again next week, on January 22, when Spitzer is scheduled to unveil his proposed 2008-09 state budget proposal.