00:01 - All right. Good morning.

00:03 - Let me welcome to the stage somebody who

00:07 - we are very, very fortunate to have this morning.

00:11 - And that is Senator Kristin Philips-Hill

00:14 - from York.

00:18 - That's on the other

00:21 - side.

00:24 - Does it matter which seat I take?

00:26 - Please? All right.

00:27 - I think I'm going to stay to the right.

00:29 - It was a joke.

00:32 - Too early.

00:35 - I got.

00:38 - Thank you.

00:39 - Thank you. Welcome.

00:40 - For the benefit of all of you.

00:42 - Senator Phillips always elected to serve York County residents

00:45 - in the Pennsylvania Senate in 2018.

00:48 - She served in the House prior to that.

00:50 - She's a former small business owner, school board director.

00:53 - We share a lot in common.

00:54 - Indeed.

00:56 - And Kristen has made government efficiency

00:58 - a point of emphasis throughout her tenure in public service.

01:02 - Throughout her first term in the Senate,

01:04 - she spearheaded a concerted, bipartisan and bicameral effort

01:07 - to improve access to high speed Internet.

01:09 - I have to tell you

01:11 - that this is the one person, along with maybe one other,

01:14 - who is no longer in the legislature. We miss her

01:18 - who would have been

01:18 - talking about broadband and rural and access

01:22 - for years before there was money and before this was popular?

01:26 - Actually, they said we were crazy.

01:28 - They said they did.

01:28 - So we thought we were these two crazy women

01:30 - just talking about broadband.

01:33 - And we went from being crazy to being two of the most sought

01:36 - after individuals when COVID hit, because all of a

01:41 - sudden everybody realized how important connectivity is.

01:46 - So absolutely.

01:47 - But not only is Kristen a leader in broadband,

01:51 - she was recently elected as chair of the

01:56 - GOP caucus in the Senate as well.

01:58 - Or as was the caucus secretary or caucus chair,

02:02 - caucus chair, caucus chair and is also the Vice Chair

02:06 - of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee.

02:09 - So not only is she in the center of this,

02:12 - she's a leader in

02:13 - in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and in the Senate.

02:16 - And for that, anybody who knows an elected leader,

02:20 - their time is always at a premium.

02:25 - So we're really grateful for your time this morning.

02:26 - I was thrilled to come here and start my day with you all.

02:30 - I'm so grateful that you are working

02:33 - in this very important space

02:34 - and I still have three major pockets

02:36 - in York County that need to be connected.

02:38 - I'm happy to talk to each and every one of the providers

02:41 - here today about how we can fix that.

02:43 - So and I have to say,

02:46 - Todd has been exceptional to work with

02:50 - from the first time that I met him

02:52 - as a newly elected House member.

02:54 - Back then you were with Comcast. I was.

02:56 - And then now working in this space.

02:59 - He is a tremendous resource for me

03:03 - in the work that I continue to do.

03:05 - I will tell you right now, I don't know everything.

03:07 - And so I appreciate having really knowledgeable people

03:11 - in this space that I can lean on for that information

03:14 - and that knowledge when I need it.

03:17 - Absolutely.

03:18 - And let

03:19 - let me back up before we get into broadband,

03:21 - because my recommendation on a dentist as well.

03:23 - Absolutely. Thank you for that. Absolutely.

03:25 - By the way, I'm getting my teeth cleaned this Saturday.

03:28 - Nice.

03:29 - By by the same dentists.

03:33 - So before we jump into broadband as a leader in the Senate

03:36 - and having been around Harrisburg for a while,

03:40 - strange things in the House,

03:41 - first time we have a change in majority parties

03:45 - and such a small margin at that

03:48 - one person majority in the House

03:50 - and a new in a new administration.

03:52 - What's the what's what is the environment like in Harrisburg?

03:58 - So what I constantly

04:00 - tell people is we have divided government,

04:02 - but we can't have dysfunctional government.

04:04 - So regardless of who is in control in the House,

04:07 - there's a major election that's coming up and a primary

04:11 - to open seats.

04:12 - It could flip

04:13 - the balance of power over there or maybe it won't.

04:17 - We have a new administration and I think this governor

04:21 - seems interested in this space and that's good.

04:26 - And the Senate retains its majority

04:29 - and the Republican Party, since 1980,

04:33 - the Republicans have been control of the Senate. So

04:37 - we're going to continue to do the important work

04:40 - to meet the needs of the people of Pennsylvania.

04:43 - And that's going to be regardless of what happens

04:46 - over in the house.

04:47 - So we got to work immediately.

04:49 - January 11th,

04:50 - we had our first bill over to the House

04:53 - and we will continue to do that work.

04:56 - Thank you.

04:57 - Well, again, before we get to the problem,

05:00 - what are the priorities?

05:03 - I know getting a budget bill,

05:06 - but there are so many issues before the General Assembly.

05:10 - What are the other priorities outside

05:12 - of taking all of your time to think about Broad?

05:14 - Well, I think chief among our our top priorities

05:17 - is regulatory and permitting reform.

05:21 - I can venture to guess that each

05:23 - and every one of you sitting at all of these tables

05:26 - has a story that you could share with us about how

05:30 - the regulatory system has barriers for you to do

05:33 - the important work

05:34 - that you need to do, and that the permitting process

05:37 - doesn't always work efficiently and effectively.

05:40 - I was I was actually really excited

05:44 - when the governor signed that executive order and said,

05:48 - we are going to fix

05:50 - permitting here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

05:53 - And I'm on board. Let's do it.

05:57 - This is another issue that

05:58 - I've been talking about for way too long.

06:00 - So I think

06:02 - when you look specifically at broadband

06:05 - and improving connectivity across the Commonwealth and the

06:10 - huge amount of ARPA dollars that we've had, the seed money

06:13 - that's going to be coming to us

06:14 - through the federal Infrastructure Act

06:17 - if we don't fix the permitting process here in the Commonwealth

06:22 - and the regulatory structure, we're not going to be set

06:26 - up for success.

06:27 - So I think that's really one of our caucus's top priorities

06:32 - and you'll begin to see action on that in May.

06:36 - Absolutely.

06:37 - So as I said, you've been a leader

06:41 - and a voice

06:43 - in the broadband space for many back

06:45 - when you were in the House.

06:46 - You know, it's important to you and you've been very passionate

06:50 - about this. Why?

06:52 - So how many people have children?

06:55 - A lot of people have children

06:56 - right in the day that they're born.

06:58 - So you go, oh, my gosh, she's beautiful.

07:02 - Someday she's going to be a piano player and a ballerina.

07:06 - She's got these beautiful long fingers

07:08 - and it's going to be great.

07:09 - And she grows up and she becomes

07:12 - a soccer player and she plays the drums, right?

07:16 - So you go, Wow, I never could have predicted that.

07:19 - Kind of like the same experience you have as a legislator.

07:22 - You think, you know what, you're

07:23 - going to Harrisburg to address, and then you have these

07:27 - very important individuals called constituents.

07:30 - And those constituents,

07:31 - when you're elected, reach out to you

07:32 - and they tell you about their problems.

07:34 - And I was just bombarded by individuals

07:39 - in the southeastern corner of

07:41 - New York County who couldn't get connected.

07:45 - And it really became a challenge in terms of access

07:51 - to educational resources for these students.

07:55 - And when it's your constituents problem,

07:58 - it becomes your problem.

08:00 - And so that really was what pulled me into this space.

08:06 - You know,

08:06 - I thought I was going to go fix

08:08 - the taxes in the Commonwealth and fix a lot of other things.

08:11 - This wasn't an issue

08:13 - I thought that I was going to spend almost nine

08:16 - years of my life working on, but that's where we are now.

08:19 - And I do it

08:20 - because that's what's important to the people that I represent.

08:24 - And so now in my capacity as

08:29 - a member of the Broadband Development Authority,

08:32 - as the Republican Senate Caucus's appointee,

08:36 - my responsibility isn't just to my constituents

08:40 - in Southern York County, but to all of our members,

08:45 - constituents, to make sure that they get the connectivity

08:48 - that they need.

08:49 - I was so fortunate in the House

08:50 - when I started talking about this.

08:52 - I met this great woman.

08:53 - She was a Democrat from GREENE County, which is as far

08:58 - west as you can get in Pennsylvania.

09:01 - Both of our districts hugged the mason Dixon line.

09:04 - That's about all that our districts had

09:05 - in common at that point, except that

09:08 - they were all peppered with these holes

09:10 - in terms of connectivity. And so

09:13 - she is no longer in the house, but she still is a dear friend.

09:18 - And we really endeavored down this path together,

09:24 - worked to do

09:25 - a legislative budget and Finance Committee report to

09:28 - really address many of the myths that seem to be holding

09:33 - progress forward on this issue back.

09:36 - We did a joint State Government Commission report

09:40 - that essentially created the foundation and very

09:47 - beginning of the

09:48 - work that was needed to be done to set up the Broadband

09:52 - Development Authority and was at the table with me

09:56 - negotiating to the legislation that created the Broadband

10:00 - Development Authority.

10:01 - So she's left me here to carry on,

10:05 - but I think we're I hope and pray

10:09 - that we've done this right and we are going to be able

10:14 - to say we've accomplished connectivity

10:18 - for every Pennsylvanian when this is all done

10:21 - well and that relies on you.

10:24 - You are the really

10:25 - important people in this space because you will be the ones

10:29 - who actually connect people to the Internet.

10:33 - Well, it's been a long journey out of the wilderness and

10:37 - for many reasons, not least of which the spotlight

10:41 - that was shown by the pandemic

10:43 - on the need for connectivity

10:45 - validated the things that you were talking about.

10:47 - And it was just about the same time

10:50 - that I came to Harrisburg from Comcast and joined Beacon

10:53 - that we started on that path of creating the Broadband

10:57 - Development Authority.

10:58 - And I have said from the very beginning,

11:01 - the process which culminated in at 96 and December

11:04 - of 21 that established the broadband authority, was

11:09 - the best of what government can do.

11:12 - It was bipartisan, it was transparent.

11:16 - Stakeholders were at the table.

11:17 - And we created something that I think made sense

11:21 - for our Commonwealth and fast forward to today,

11:27 - how do you think that we did in the establishment of that

11:30 - and the way that things can and should operate?

11:35 - So my mom was a superintendent secretary and she had the saying

11:40 - and it said, we may be good, we can always be better.

11:45 - So I think we're off to a really good start

11:47 - and I think there's opportunity to get even better.

11:51 - And we've recently

11:54 - put together the guidelines for

11:57 - Capital Projects Fund, ARPA dollars

12:00 - that have been set aside to increase connectivity.

12:04 - So we approved those guidelines on April 5th.

12:07 - That window of opportunity to apply for those grants

12:11 - opens on May 10th,

12:12 - which I will remind everyone now that you know that I'm a mom.

12:15 - Mother's Day is May 14th.

12:18 - Don't forget that. Take note.

12:20 - Make sure you call your mother

12:23 - and we are going to begin to

12:27 - push out dollars to increase connectivity.

12:31 - There are all kinds of parameters

12:33 - this guy is your resource.

12:34 - He can tell you all of those parameters, what the speeds are.

12:38 - There is an emphasis, this deployment

12:41 - on fiber.

12:44 - There is a minimum grant of about $500,000 maximum grant.

12:49 - It's capped at $10 and there's

12:53 - a 25% matching

12:56 - requirement.

12:58 - And we are looking to get those dollars out there.

13:01 - And really these dollars are meant to

13:04 - when you look at that fiber and you start pulling it out

13:07 - and it looks like they're connected,

13:08 - but they're these little holes

13:10 - actually hexagons in that fiber where there's no connectivity.

13:14 - This money is really targeted to in filling those those gaps

13:19 - in that fiber coverage across the common wealth.

13:23 - And then, of course, we have a lot of work to do

13:27 - because we have to begin

13:28 - the process of crafting the guidelines for the deployment

13:32 - of those B dollars.

13:34 - It's going to be a bigger pot of money.

13:37 - Again, only 200 million in the Capital Projects Fund

13:41 - for these projects and these grants in this round.

13:45 - But I believe we have to get

13:47 - this work done on those guidelines by October.

13:50 - And so

13:51 - I think what's really important now is for you to figure out

13:55 - what you think those guidelines

13:57 - should look like, what makes sense?

13:59 - How are we going to push these dollars out?

14:02 - And you need to let the broadband development authority

14:06 - Todd is on the subcommittee.

14:08 - He's an active participant

14:10 - in the authority, attends all of the meetings.

14:14 - You need to funnel that information up to him

14:17 - so that we can put together the best guidelines

14:21 - to help you help us get people connected.

14:27 - Yeah.

14:27 - So this has been called many things.

14:30 - This, this, this point in time, generational, historic,

14:34 - once in a lifetime funding opportunity

14:37 - to get this right, as you said.

14:39 - And it's critical that we get this right and

14:42 - the reservations, I think we all share

14:44 - and we've talked about this before, is

14:47 - we can't afford

14:48 - to look at each other in five or seven years and say,

14:52 - what did we do with a billion and a half dollars?

14:55 - And why did not solve this problem?

14:57 - And, you know, I see this often and Todd's heard me say this.

15:00 - I didn't vote to spend this money.

15:02 - It's a lot of money.

15:04 - I am now the caretaker

15:05 - of those federal tax dollars and my folks back home,

15:09 - all their tax dollars come out of one

15:12 - wallet, their federal taxes, their state taxes.

15:15 - They're counties are municipal, they're school district.

15:17 - It's all right there.

15:19 - And they want to make sure

15:22 - that it is spent efficiently,

15:25 - effectively, and that the objectives that were set

15:29 - are met.

15:30 - And my kids, grandkids, great

15:34 - grandkids are going to be paying this money back.

15:37 - So to not accomplish the mission

15:41 - would be, in my mind, a huge failure.

15:43 - So we really have to do this in a way

15:47 - that achieve success

15:49 - because it's a really big price tag that our taxpayer

15:54 - is going to have to pay generationally, generationally.

15:57 - And it is a lot of money to throw around

16:00 - terms in the billions of dollars is a lot of money.

16:04 - But I worry

16:06 - that $1,000,000,000 was a lot last year.

16:11 - And when we began to think about this and

16:15 - you discount eight and a half percent

16:18 - inflation rate that is eating into this,

16:21 - you begin to discount the supply chain challenges.

16:26 - You begin

16:26 - to look at the economics of the Buy America provisions

16:30 - which are going to make scarcity which rises prices.

16:34 - We look at workforce, right and that billion dollars is now

16:38 - got the

16:38 - spending power of 600 million and and those are all the things

16:42 - that make it really hard for me to go to sleep at night. And

16:47 - when I first took over the Communications

16:49 - Technology Committee and wanted to go down this path,

16:53 - we passed the resolution on the aisle BFC study,

16:57 - the resolution to do the Joint City

16:58 - Government Commission study, and then

17:03 - our committee's executive

17:04 - director, who's somewhere in the audience today.

17:07 - She and I traveled Pennsylvania.

17:11 - We put together a series of hearings,

17:13 - and we were out in Indiana County,

17:15 - which, by the way, was really cool.

17:16 - Nobody could play Candy Crush or answer emails

17:19 - because we were in a facility that had no Internet

17:23 - and no cell phone connectivity.

17:24 - I have never had the undivided attention

17:26 - of any audience in my short

17:28 - but eventful tenure as a state legislator.

17:30 - I was like,

17:31 - This is really incredible.

17:34 - We were up in Monroe, we were ou

17:41 - Harrisburg and

17:44 - we put together that report and

17:50 - we laid that foundation

17:52 - to make this all come to fruition.

17:55 - But we really identified the challenges

17:58 - that we're going to face, and one of those is workforce.

18:02 - Now, imagine

18:04 - a couple of years ago,

18:07 - New York spent a couple hundred million dollars

18:10 - to increase connectivity and they sucked all of our workforce

18:14 - up north over that border to do the work.

18:18 - Now you've got a situation where these B dollars are

18:21 - they're going to be deployed in Washington state

18:23 - and in Florida.

18:24 - They're going to be deployed

18:25 - up in Maine and in down in New Mexico.

18:28 - Every other state in between.

18:30 - And so what are our labor costs going to look like?

18:33 - Because they're going to be a really hot commodity.

18:37 - A lot of people think, well, you know, if you can string

18:40 - electric line,

18:41 - you can string fiber like, no, it doesn't quite work like that.

18:46 - So we're going to have workforce

18:47 - challenges and that's going to amplify

18:49 - that pressure on that limited pot of money

18:52 - that we're going to have to achieve connectivity.

18:55 - Well, this is the editorial part of my presentation,

18:58 - and that is this room is decades and decades

19:03 - and decades of serving customers and building these networks.

19:06 - This is the brain trust for what we're trying

19:09 - to accomplish going back 75 years.

19:13 - I have friends from Service Electric

19:15 - who are here, are celebrating this year their 75th anniversary

19:19 - of the start of this industry, which started

19:21 - right here in the Commonwealth.

19:27 - And it's a proud legacy and we love to

19:29 - look at our history, but we're also looking forward

19:31 - to building resilient networks and creating and delivering

19:36 - speeds and experiences in a safe and resilient manner

19:40 - that is able to take Pennsylvania.

19:44 - This is not just an exercise in a bubble.

19:46 - This is part of the discussion that we talk about

19:49 - the grain of Pennsylvania and how we retain a workforce

19:53 - and how we build a vibrant Pennsylvania

19:55 - economy where people stay here and build businesses and grow.

19:59 - The connectivity element is a part of that.

20:01 - It's it's actually a huge part of it.

20:04 - And for those graying seniors, their pacemaker

20:07 - defibrillators need

20:08 - to be connected to the Internet so that they can stay healthy.

20:11 - And I'm so excited

20:13 - that we're past talking about what the problem is.

20:16 - And we're actually

20:17 - into this phase of talking about the solutions

20:21 - that we're going to work to address regulatory barriers,

20:26 - that we're going to work to address permitting challenges.

20:31 - Hopefully, we're going to be

20:32 - able to address those workforce challenges as well.

20:36 - And they're going to be a lot of boots on the ground

20:39 - and you're going to have a lot of new customers.

20:42 - I will.

20:42 - I will just say to you that in this room

20:44 - is the runs the gamut of the operators from

20:48 - the largest in the country to perhaps some of the smallest

20:52 - in the country.

20:53 - And when it comes to resources,

20:56 - I think our collective effort and the thing that you

20:58 - hear from us is

21:00 - we just seek a level playing field where every operator

21:04 - who's got

21:05 - the experience to do this and it's generations

21:07 - of serving their neighborhoods, communities and customers

21:10 - are able to have the resources to come in and compete

21:15 - to serve those donut holes to expand their network.

21:18 - I couldn't agree more, and I can tell you that

21:21 - when Pam Snyder

21:22 - and I were originally having all these conversations,

21:25 - there were some really foundational things.

21:27 - One was that I was going

21:28 - to agree to meet with all of those more left

21:31 - of center organizations, and she agreed to meet

21:33 - with more of those right of center organizations.

21:36 - But that we said

21:40 - this is not just a rural broadband issue,

21:43 - that this is going to be a broadband issue,

21:46 - that we didn't want to exclude anyone.

21:48 - We wanted to bring everybody in and we wanted to be technical

21:53 - agnostic.

21:54 - We don't know what you're going to invent

21:56 - tomorrow, five years from now, ten years from now.

22:00 - And we felt that it was going to be a mistake

22:02 - to say one type of technology is the perfect technology.

22:06 - You are going to innovate

22:07 - and you are going to create something.

22:11 - We are so excited to learn what it is.

22:14 - And the other thing is, is that we need everybody.

22:16 - This is a big state.

22:18 - It's a diverse state.

22:19 - It's geographically challenging.

22:22 - And so we need the biggest providers

22:26 - and we need the smallest providers.

22:28 - And I think there's plenty of space

22:30 - in this Commonwealth for everyone,

22:32 - one to be engaged and involved

22:34 - and honestly we need you all engaged and involved.

22:37 - It's going to be the only way

22:38 - we're going to be able to accomplish this mission.

22:41 - And I want to thank you for not just the focus

22:45 - inside the authority, but things going on in the committee.

22:48 - You talked about permitting reform.

22:50 - We've talked about

22:52 - the MAKEREADY and the poll access issues.

22:56 - And we got legislation

22:57 - you've got on on 5G to begin to address that.

23:01 - There was more challenges

23:03 - and you're working on the fix and we're working on that.

23:06 - We have a new Communications and Technology Committee chair

23:10 - in the in the Senate, Senator Tracey Penicuik.

23:13 - She's from Montgomery County.

23:16 - And she is

23:18 - really bright,

23:20 - very interested, dedicated and committed on these issues.

23:24 - And she really, I think, is ready to get to work.

23:28 - So that's exciting.

23:29 - New Democratic Chair Jimmy Dillon, he's from Philadelphia.

23:34 - So I think there's an opportunity

23:36 - to do some very good work.

23:38 - We continue to have stable leadership in the House

23:41 - in terms of the committee

23:42 - with jurisdiction over this, members

23:44 - who really understand the issues.

23:46 - So that gives me hope that in

23:49 - this space will be able to get some good legislation done.

23:52 - And for those of you that don't know, Senator,

23:54 - as part of a group in the Senate who has the courage

23:57 - to actually take on the railroads

23:58 - about our crossing and permitting issues there to

24:02 - expect that

24:03 - very soon. So

24:09 - maybe I'm

24:11 - a masochist. I don't know.

24:13 - I like to take on difficult issues

24:15 - because my thought is if if you're there, you're

24:18 - not there just to pass bridge neighbors, which are important.

24:20 - I never said I would never do one.

24:22 - But, you know,

24:22 - when you have a gold star mom who comes to you

24:25 - and asks you to name a bridge after her fallen child,

24:28 - you do it.

24:31 - But it would be an absolute

24:35 - mistake to squander the opportunity

24:38 - you have to make a real difference on issues.

24:40 - So, you know, last session we were in the space of fixing

24:46 - health care and doing prior authorization

24:48 - is step therapy reform, which was

24:52 - a Herculean task.

24:53 - But we got it done.

24:54 - And I hear from so many entities with regard to the challenges

25:00 - of working in that same space as our railroads.

25:04 - They're not happy about what we're proposing.

25:06 - So, you know, we're going to go up and we're going to sit down.

25:09 - We're going to meet with the folks from the railroads.

25:11 - But you shared an experience that you had at Comcast

25:15 - about getting someone connected months and months and months

25:19 - and months of delays,

25:20 - a big law firm going in and they had no Internet.

25:24 - And when they finally were able to resolve it,

25:27 - it took less than half a day to do this

25:29 - little bit of work to cross that rail space.

25:31 - So there's got to be a way that we can get providers

25:37 - and the railroads to come together

25:39 - and work together so that we can achieve the connectivity.

25:43 - We have a lot of railroads in Pennsylvania, so that's

25:46 - why it's an essential issue to have that conversation

25:50 - with those those folks.

25:52 - Senator Jarrett Coleman, who's from up in the Lehigh

25:55 - Valley, is the prime sponsor of that bill.

25:58 - And, you know, I told him we're going to work

26:00 - really hard to try and get this this done

26:03 - because he said it will make a difference in his district.

26:06 - So. Well, I just want to thank you.

26:10 - It's leadership

26:12 - takes on many forms and it's obvious,

26:15 - I think, to everybody in this room,

26:16 - something I've known for a long time.

26:18 - You're a leader in the commonwealth.

26:20 - You're a leader in the Senate. But

26:23 - as I said, leadership takes on many forms.

26:25 - And our experience is if we pick up the phone,

26:28 - touch base with you, you're always responsive.

26:31 - But that extends to the leadership of your staff,

26:34 - the most responsive, engaging, transparent group

26:37 - that we have to work with that starts at the top.

26:40 - So we're very, very grateful for that

26:43 - as well as anybody here

26:47 - have anything they would like to add or

26:49 - we'll take a minute before we let Jim.

26:53 - Senator, appreciate your efforts

26:58 - on that that

27:03 - I just wanted just a couple of lines.

27:05 - One is that giving a lot of money for one day

27:07 - to make sure that money gets the most bang for the buck.

27:11 - There's a lot of people chasing the money,

27:13 - you know, for money in the case.

27:16 - And the focus will be where it should be in providing

27:20 - broadband service.

27:21 - But I'm concerned underserved residents.

27:23 - And that's

27:24 - one of the challenges for credit is going to be a lot of

27:27 - potential for waste.

27:28 - This is one of the options for that.

27:32 - And also,

27:32 - you know,

27:33 - the people in this room are the ones that have

27:34 - the ability to participate in all of these facilities.

27:39 - And to the extent you can keep in mind,

27:43 - that's

27:43 - one of the this is all done when you bring it toward

27:47 - the red tape, whatever you can do to minimize that.

27:51 - If you don't focus on getting

27:54 - your work together in partnership, this leadership,

27:57 - you are also going to say that,

27:59 - you know, if you ever need to reach out to people here

28:03 - with the idea that we're partners, don't hesitate

28:07 - to get people get this job as to get this job done together.

28:11 - Well, I appreciate that more than you can know

28:15 - in so many important points

28:18 - that you focused on, that red tape is really a problem.

28:22 - Funny story.

28:23 - The history of red tape and

28:26 - red tape used to be what was used to bind

28:30 - government regulations that red tape was actually manufactured

28:36 - in York County at the York Narrows Fabric Company

28:40 - that is literally not even 10 minutes from my house

28:43 - when I first came to the Senate, the city of York,

28:45 - it's on the York college campus, the city of York

28:48 - in Spring Garden Township, where my district

28:50 - I'm not sure if it's I'm not sure

28:52 - where the dividing line is. Honestly, between the two,

28:55 - it may not be in my district anyway.

28:57 - We held a press conference there

28:58 - to say we need to cut the red tape

29:00 - at the very place where red tape was actually manufactured. So

29:05 - that irony is definitely not lost on me.

29:09 - So that has been something that I have been passionate

29:14 - about and working on

29:15 - since the day I walked into that beautiful building.

29:18 - And we have made progress again.

29:23 - I go back to it, you know, we're good,

29:26 - but we can always be better.

29:28 - And that is something I remain committed to doing

29:32 - with waste, fraud and abuse.

29:35 - I have legislation that allows clawbacks of grant money.

29:39 - If you don't do what you said you were going to do with that

29:41 - grant money,

29:41 - it should come back to the hardworking

29:43 - taxpayers who pay our bills.

29:45 - I feel that way about every grant program

29:48 - across the Commonwealth.

29:50 - And you're absolutely right and I've had a lot of conversations

29:54 - with our Auditor General, Tim two for the problem with waste,

29:58 - fraud and abuse.

29:59 - Once that money goes out,

30:01 - even if we can go back and track it down and find it,

30:04 - we're only going to get pennies

30:06 - back on the dollar that was lost.

30:08 - That's criminal in my mind.

30:11 - So I think the best way to do that is to stop the fraud at

30:15 - the front end instead of finding the fraud on the back end.

30:19 - And please know I am committed

30:22 - 210% on

30:24 - making sure that nothing is done fraudulently.

30:27 - And, you know, I have a transportation project.

30:30 - Todd has heard me talk about this.

30:32 - We finally got it done.

30:34 - It was supposed to be done in three years.

30:36 - And I forget what the original price was.

30:38 - But let me just tell you, it took almost six years

30:41 - and it was massively over budget

30:45 - and we're in court and it's being adjudicated

30:48 - and we're trying to get back some of that money. And

30:52 - I, I think we have to have people in this space

30:56 - who are not fly by night companies.

30:58 - And we have tried to put

31:00 - some parameters in there to make sure that

31:04 - we have businesses

31:06 - that are legitimate working in that space, doing this work.

31:10 - And we saw a lot of this. You probably saw a lot of this.

31:13 - There were a lot of companies

31:14 - that popped up when all of these federal

31:15 - ARPA dollars started flowing into the state.

31:18 - And there was a lot of shady stuff that went on.

31:21 - And we want to make sure

31:22 - that that doesn't happen with this money.

31:24 - At the same time, we also don't want to preclude

31:26 - those new start up businesses who have a lot of

31:30 - skill, knowledge and

31:33 - can bring a lot to the table into the space.

31:35 - So finding that right balance is really important.

31:38 - But you're absolutely right.

31:40 - Stop the bad things from happening on the front end

31:43 - so that you don't lose the money

31:45 - and have to track it down on the back end. So

31:49 - much as you can make this great, you

31:53 - know, we get the government involved.

31:55 - They're actually giving us

31:58 - so many problems, you know?

32:04 - Yeah, yeah.

32:06 - It's persecution, people.

32:08 - Minds are

32:12 - minimized.

32:14 - Yeah, absolutely.

32:15 - And you know, when we

32:17 - negotiated the bill that created

32:18 - the Broadband Development Authority,

32:20 - the point that I continue to make is,

32:23 - you know,

32:24 - I have an undergraduate degree in political science

32:26 - and art history and a master's degree in public policy.

32:28 - And I had my own business and I did that.

32:30 - But I've never deployed broadband infrastructure.

32:36 - Nobody who was sitting around the table

32:38 - negotiating the bill had ever deployed

32:40 - broadband infrastructure.

32:41 - I said, we need not bureaucrats sitting in a government

32:45 - building in Harrisburg, but we need people

32:48 - who have the knowledge and expertize on the ground.

32:51 - Now, there were issues we couldn't

32:53 - pick specific companies to come and sit

32:56 - on the development authority and advise us because that would

33:00 - preclude you from bidding for those contracts.

33:03 - So that's why you have Todd to sit there and advise

33:08 - because he represents all of you and he can't get a grant.

33:11 - So I completely agree with you.

33:14 - And that's why I use all of you collectively as a resource

33:18 - through Todd to get the information

33:20 - that I need to make sure that what we're doing

33:23 - is the right thing.

33:25 - And thank you.

33:26 - I really appreciate it.

33:28 - Thank you.

33:30 - That's called anybody else, the Stromberg.

33:33 - So I want to thank you both so I know how hard you work

33:37 - on this.

33:39 - And I think we really appreciate what you're doing here.

33:44 - I think the one thing we would like to see,

33:46 - we're not afraid of compete against each other.

33:50 - Right.

33:52 - And that's the way it should be.

33:53 - But we need a little more transparency

33:56 - this in particular, we want you to know how to support.

34:00 - It doesn't mean we're not here for the second part of

34:04 - the question,

34:05 - but I think it would benefit every work that

34:08 - we have to support.

34:09 - But, you know,

34:12 - we've had some good conversations.

34:14 - And again, when I say we may be good, we can always be better.

34:16 - I think that's probably one of the areas

34:18 - where we can get better and appreciate the input

34:22 - and certainly will take it

34:24 - back to the authority and see if we can be better

34:27 - in that regard.

34:28 - So I thank you for that.

34:30 - You. Yes, sir,

34:33 - Senator.

34:33 - Thank you for your leadership on this, not only

34:38 - for the many years that we've worked

34:40 - on this issue, so supportive one on one

34:43 - as the leader of some of these experts in the legislature,

34:48 - what are your conversations with the governor, your own,

34:52 - and where he says he is, and what the priorities

34:57 - of the administration as relates to broadly?

35:01 - Obviously, it comes from a more suburban and urban area.

35:06 - He obviously believes that some of his constituents, he's

35:10 - with the southeast

35:11 - of what you sense in conversations you have with him

35:15 - as to how he sees the state.

35:19 - So I haven't had direct conversations with the governor.

35:22 - I have had many conversations with his

35:26 - secretary of legislative affairs, who's

35:29 - a former Republican state representative who sat behind me

35:35 - when I was in the House.

35:37 - So we had a little bit of a

35:41 - challenge in assuring, with this last set of guidelines,

35:45 - that we were in compliance with state and federal law

35:48 - and through many conversations

35:52 - with him, I think, you know,

35:55 - he was as concerned on behalf of the governor

35:58 - about making sure that we complied with state

36:01 - and federal law

36:02 - and was

36:03 - really helpful in assuring that we did that with this last

36:07 - set of guidelines.

36:08 - I can tell you that the governor has been down to my district.

36:13 - He seems to have a focus on agriculture

36:16 - and wants to talk a lot about agriculture

36:19 - and its impact on the Commonwealth and its economy.

36:22 - So I view that as a good thing and if anybody knows

36:25 - what's going on in our rural communities and in agriculture,

36:29 - I can't go to a farmer's

36:31 - breakfast, go out to a local farm

36:32 - without hearing about broadband as an issue.

36:35 - The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the Pennsylvania Grange,

36:39 - they have been tremendous allies in this journey for me

36:44 - on trying to improve access and address these issues. So

36:49 - with the governor,

36:51 - his signaling on permitting

36:54 - and reform, I think is is a good sign.

36:58 - And I'm optimistic.

37:00 - And as I always say, I'm optimistic

37:02 - until you give me a reason not to be optimistic.

37:04 - So I remain optimistic that we're going to be able to work

37:09 - with him in a way that accomplishes

37:12 - all of our goals, which is to improve

37:14 - the connectivity across the Commonwealth, the

37:18 - it was previously stated that this money needs

37:20 - to go to the unserved and the underserved.

37:26 - That has been a top priority for me.

37:29 - Let's reach those people first.

37:32 - When we talk about,

37:33 - you know, there's a lot of words that get thrown around

37:35 - about equity and equitable access

37:38 - and all that kind of stuff.

37:39 - I think you can't even get

37:40 - to that point until you actually have service.

37:44 - So let's get those people who don't have service service first

37:49 - and then let's address

37:50 - the unserved and then we can start working in

37:54 - in the rest of that space.

37:56 - Remember, we're going to have to comply with rules

37:59 - that came down to us from the federal government.

38:02 - So some of this money is going to go to middle mile access

38:05 - and some of it's going to go to

38:08 - assuring that

38:09 - people who don't have

38:12 - the financial resources to be connected get connected.

38:15 - And so they have given us some very specific guidelines.

38:19 - Some of them I don't agree with, but

38:22 - I have to work within the confines

38:25 - of what the federal government has sent us with these dollars.

38:29 - So I completely agree with you.

38:32 - Thank you very much.

38:34 - Well, let me just say, on behalf of

38:38 - B Corp membership, thank you.

38:39 - We're grateful for your leadership

38:40 - not only in this space, but

38:43 - we're grateful for your public service

38:46 - and personally, it is a privilege to work

38:49 - with you and an honor to relationships

38:54 - are shallow in politics too often.

38:57 - It's a privilege to in an honor to call you my friend, too.

39:00 - And we can talk about anything at any time.

39:02 - And we we do regularly.

39:04 - Well, and likewise, again, I want to thank you all for for

39:10 - going down this road with me

39:12 - and for always being the resource

39:14 - that I need to do good work in Harrisburg.

39:16 - So I thank you as always, my friend. Always.

39:19 - Thank you.

39:20 - Senator Kristen Phillips-Hill.