Rep. Tina Pickett, a Republican from Bradford and Wyoming counties, says she gets more complaints about internet issues than potholes in her district offices.

Rural areas of Pennsylvania are set to get some relief; the state has $1.16 billion in federal grant dollars through the Broadband Equality, Access, and Development (BEAD) program. Pickett says how the money is spent will determine how far the state can stretch the funds.

One opportunity for cost savings is the wage classification of the workers who work in broadband construction.

When most Pennsylvania projects get government funding, organizations have to pledge to pay project workers a “prevailing wage”. Different types of workers get paid different prevailing wages, based on their worker classification.

Right now, broadband installation workers in Pennsylvania are in the same worker classification as electric linemen— who have a noticeably higher wage. Pickett says that is fitting, as electric linemen risk safety to climb electric poles and respond to emergencies in bad weather.

While broadband installers certainly require skill; Pickett argues their job does not have the high risk that electric linemen face.

HB1292, sponsored by Pickett, would create teledata worker classifications; such as “teledata lineman/technician”, “teledata groundman”, and “teledata cable splicer”. These worker classifications would be paid less than electric lineman— which Pickett says could leave more money to get more projects done with federal grants.

The bill has seen opposition from those who do not want to change prevailing wage law and pay broadband installers less.

 

A transcript of the full interview is below:

KARA JEFFERS, STATE GOVERNMENT REPORTER: "Hello. I'm Kara Jeffers here with Representative Tina Pickett. We are going to take a break, and talk about a bill. You have something that's dealing with broad band up in rural areas, isn't that right?

REP. TINA PICKETT (R-BRADFORD/WYOMING): "Well, I do. Pennsylvania in general is vying for some money from the federal government, a very large amount of money that could be allocated to us. The question is, how is it going to get spent?

"There's a lot of concerns for us in the rural area now. And believe me, this is like problem number one. I somewhat realistically say it overcomes potholes now for for complaints in my office. People feel like they either don't have access, they don't have reasonably priced access, they don't have access that is constantly working— I mean, they have a lot of repair problems that are not taken care of by the current one Or two companies that are available.

"It's really, in today's world, everything— education, the work you do, home entertainment, the way you run your home and safety. There's so many reasons that you need good Internet in your home anymore. It's almost an imperative.

"And yes, the dollars could come to Pennsylvania, and they could make a tremendous difference. This is an expensive endeavor to be able to build out these rural areas. But if it is not spent in a good wise way, we're not going to we'll have an effect, but it won't be as what it could have been."

"And one of the areas that I have discovered that is potentially a very realistic problem is that the classifications for the workers that would be putting up the;

"we want fiber. Because we believe in the rural areas, satellite is not going to do it. We have very tough terrain and we don't think it's going to work, even though the federal government is pushing that way to go with the satellite coverage. 

"But on the other hand, what I wanted to say, was that the classification for these workers is the same as electric linemen. Electric linemen have a very high salary rate for a reason. They have an unsafe job. They have a risky job. They go out and all kinds of very harsh, tough weather to try to do what they do when they have outages.

"That's not true with laying this fiber. That is not true. Yes, it takes skill, but it is nowhere near what it takes a lineman to do. So we want to see that reclassified as a teledata worker with a lesser salary. Still be a very good salary, I have to say. But on the other hand, it would go further. Obviously, simple math. The money would go further if we were able to have that proper classification for these wages. It sounds simple, but it's very, very hard to accomplish."

JEFFERS: "I was going to say. What opposition have you run into in trying to get this bill passed?

PICKETT: "Well, of course, we're talking prevailing wage classifications We're not asking to take prevailing wage away. We're asking for it to be properly classified for the type of job that is going to be done. And with of course, the ultimate result that we would have better broadband coverage in Pennsylvania, which is so vital to probably two thirds to three quarters of Pennsylvania. Realistically, it's probably that much territory."

"So that's the big that's the big of opposition. And all of the people who won't vote against… the folks who believe that absolutely, you can't change a prevailing wage. So that's what we're up against."

JEFFERS: "You talk about federal grants coming in for this topic. Is there any state money that would have to go towards this that gets kind of pulled into this?"

PICKETT: "No, but it would be nice if we did put some state money into it. Also realizing that even with this amount, if it can’t— let's just say that the full allocation that we are vying for would come to Pennsylvania. Let's just say that the classification would be changed for the wages. We still couldn't do every household that we need to do.

"That's why Pennsylvania, you just might look at putting some further money into this if the federal government doesn't come out with further dollars. And as a sidebar note, this really is a replay of what happened a hundred and some years ago with electricity in rural areas. In the end, it took federal dollars to be able to build out the rural areas with electricity."

"Well, how important was that? Broadband gets close to that in the way of a utility that is really vital to anyone."

JEFFERS: "Definitely. Well, thank you, Representative. And this has been Bill Break, where we talk about the legislation that doesn't always get into the limelight."

PICKETT: “Thank you."