“As a sponsor of the original, bipartisan bill known as the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act that was passed last year, I am very pleased that this measure was included in the final budget agreement at long last. Had the governor signed the bill into law in 2020, more New Yorkers would have had access to broadband internet during the critical time of the pandemic. However, that need is certainly not going away. If anything, the pandemic has exposed what so many of us in Western New York have known for so long — the state’s broadband internet access is sorely lacking and too many are unserved. That’s why I was proud to sponsor and help pass this bill, and I am so pleased it will finally come to fruition to help get these underserved and rural communities online.”