A bill that would have created a Rural Broadband Expansion Council in Oklahoma was vetoed this week by Gov. Kevin Stitt who called it “unnecessary and redundant.”
House Bill 4018 was reportedly the measure at the heart of a budget fight between legislators and the governor. Governor Stitt had said digital transformation was a “top priority” for him and his state secretary of digital transformation had already launched the creation of a broadband task force.
“This is a duplication of work, expertise and expense,” said the Governor in vetoing the bill passed and sent to him by the legislature. The bill would create the council through Oklahoma’s Digital Transformation Revolving Fund.
The governor vetoed a companion bill, Senate Bill 1002 which focused on the number of those named to a Rural Broadband Expansion Council.