Bill Passed in Iowa  

The Iowa Statehouse approved legislature Thursday that would speed up the placement of new communications towers around the state. This legislation provides uniform rules on how local municipality’s government manage applications for cell sites, and establishes property tax breaks for companies that either speed up extremely slow broadband service or extend broadband to areas where it’s not available today, according Radio Iowa. The news outlet reported, “The proposal also creates a state-run program to hand out grants to companies that expand broadband access in Iowa, but there’s no money set aside for it.  The bill cleared the Senate late this afternoon on a 48-2 vote and House members passed it on an 82-11 vote.”