Edward G. Rendell, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

With less than a hour to go before the midnight deadline, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed House Bill 30 (HB30) into law tonight, mentioning in his bill-signing press release that "Verizon has already agreed to waive its right of first refusal in regard to Philadelphia’s proposed municipal Wi-Fi network guaranteeing that that particular project can proceed. They have done so in a signed agreement with the City."

This reference is significant because there had been some efforts to convince the Governor to veto this legislation on the grounds that it would thwart Philadelphia's plans to develop and deploy innovative means of covering the entire city with a "wireless Internet cloud" of Wi-Fi broadband connectivity.

After some cliff-hanging negotiations, representatives of Verizon, Pennsylvania's largest incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and the City of Philadelphia reached an agreement (the details and text of which have not yet been released by either party) under which Verizon waives the right given to it by HB30 to build and operate any planned broadband system submitted to it by the City, the so-called "right-of-first-refusal." Under the terms of HB30, the City of Philadelphia would only have been able to proceed to implement such plans itself AFTER Verizon indicated it wasn't interested in doing so.

The agreement, reached only this afternoon, removed the last significant obstacle to the Governor's approving the bill, which he did in the last hour before the midnight deadline.

By doing so, the Governor (and former Mayor of Philadelphia) has presumably put the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on a fast-track to universal, or near-universal broadband ubiquity, which is intended by the bill's proponents to reduce or eliminate the digital divide, foster economic growth, jump start new educational initiatives, and generally encourage innovation in multiple ways while improving the quality of life for all of Pennsylvania's residents.

The Governor expressed his interest in seeing publicly-sponsored wireless programs like those being investigated already in Philadelphia take root in other places, saying:

"We will work with other municipalities on projects that they have established or propose to establish in order to ensure that, to the extent that they are now viable, they will also have the opportunity to succeed."

Now enacted, HB30 also establishes the "Broadband Outreach and Aggregation Fund" and makes provision for wider deployment of the "Voice Over Internet Protocol." The bill also contains provisions enhancing "Lifeline" service options for Pennsylvanians taking advance of this basic, and lower-cost, phone service.

The Governor ends his message by thanking those who worked on the bill and had urged him to sign it into law, including "virtually every school group in Pennsylvania—PSEA, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, the School Board Association, the School Administrator’s Association and the Intermediate Unit Executive Directors among others, economic development organizations and Chambers of Commerce from across the state, unions—including both the AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America and Pennsylvania’s Consumer Advocate, Sonny Popowsky."

The entire text of the message issued by Governor Rendell's office on the occasion of his signing HB30 can be accessed by clicking here.

Also deeply involved in the process that culminated in this breakthrough act of legislation was Pennsylvania State Senator Jake Corman, whose chief of staff, Don Houser, was kind enough to take the time this afternoon to explain to an out-of-state reporter the general sweep and a lot of the details surrounding HB 30. An audio version of the interview in which these explanations were provided can be found by clicking here.

For further comments on Governor Rendell's signature of HB30 from State Senator Corman, click here.