Flash! Vermont Legislature Passes E-State Bill
An hour or so ago the Vermont House and Senate both gave final approval to a bill designed to make Vermont the nation's first e-state. As defined in Vermont, e-stateness means cellular and adequate broadband coverage - fixed and mobile - everywhere in the state by 2010.
Context & Ripple Effects
With no conference committee left to reconcile, the Vermont House and Senate gave final approval on May 13, 2007 to a bill that defines 'e-stateness' narrowly and concretely: cellular service plus adequate fixed and mobile broadband, everywhere in the state, by 2010. Both chambers moving in the same session matters because it converts universal coverage from an aspiration into a dated statutory commitment.
First-order effects
- Carriers and ISPs serving Vermont now face a hard 2010 deadline to extend cellular and fixed/mobile broadband into terrain that has historically been uneconomic to serve, putting buildout obligations on operators rather than leaving coverage to market forces.
Second-order effects
- Other rural-state legislatures gain a copyable template: if Vermont's deadline holds, 'e-state' becomes a legislative export; if it slips, state-mandated universal buildouts lose credibility as an instrument.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, connectivity gets treated as state infrastructure on par with roads, shifting the universal-service fight from Washington to statehouses and turning coverage maps into economic-development assets.
The trend: State legislatures are inserting themselves as broadband deployment authorities, using dated coverage targets to compel carriers into markets that subscription economics alone would not reach.