The Ohio House approved a bill to establish a fund to provide broadband internet to unserved and underserved areas of the state.

The legislation targets “last-mile connectivity” to households where it remains cost-prohibitive for providers to extend service. It would focus the funding primarily on 37 “distressed counties,” including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

The bill was approved 91-5 Thursday by the House. It still needs passage from the state Senate. The same bill was recently introduced in the upper chamber by state Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon.

The bill sets aside $20 million in fiscal year 2021, which begins in July, then $170 million in fiscal year 2022 and $20 million in fiscal year 2023 for areas not served or underserved by broadband, said state Rep. Michael J. O’Brien, D-Warren. He sponsored the same bill last year that passed the House in June, but died in the Senate.

“Ohio’s promise of better lives, better jobs and brighter futures begins with an infrastructure that’s built for the future, that levels the playing field and connects everyday Ohioans to the tools they need to live a better life,” O’Brien said in a floor speech urging its passage.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important broadband access is to people as they’ve used the internet for video conferencing, telehealth and visiting with families.

“Many of us take this technology for granted, yet so many Ohioans still lack access to these basic, essential services,” O’Brien said. The bill “expands opportunity and does what good government is supposed to do: it sees a wrong and tries to right it.”

O’Brien sponsored the bill in the last session with state Rep. Rick Carfagna, R-Genoa. It was overwhelmingly approved 81-8, but never got a Senate vote.

For this legislative session, Carfagna sponsored the bill with state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville. It was introduced Feb. 5.

O’Brien was one of several co-sponsors of the new bill along with state Reps. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Mike Loychik, R-Bazetta.

O’Brien said he wasn’t permitted to be a sponsor by the Ohio Republican House Caucus that wanted to “assist a freshman legislator (Stewart) so they assigned him to be the joint sponsor. I was the lead co-sponsor if such a thing exists.”

He added: “Republicans are in the supermajority. I’m an adult. It’s OK. I can handle it. What’s important is the fact that I was encouraged the legislation was made a priority by the General Assembly. Despite our differences, we can still identify problems and work together to solve them. This is the perfect example of what we would hope things in the future would work.”

“This legislation is a critical step in the right direction to ensure reliable, high-speed internet services and broadband services and brought to the most unserved and underserved areas of Ohio,” Carfagna said. “It’s encouraging to see how quickly we can identify and solve problems when we all unite under one common effort.”