Thank you for your service as my state legislator. As your constituent, I am asking you to prioritize the improvement of New Mexico’s broadband network. New Mexico is 42nd in the nation for broadband coverage, with 1 in 5 citizens unserved. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the state’s internet access and speed deficiencies as children learn online and remote work grows. It has become clear that there are large gaps and strain in our existing network. NM already has the research and plan needed to improve our broadband situation. We need our lawmakers coordinated effort to adapt to and improve New Mexican’s everyday lives. To aid in your decision making on this topic, Viante New Mexico is taking a new approach to looking at broadband to encourage bipartisanship, broad impact, and collaboration. Viante evaluates all broadband bills under the same, common ground criteria: does it fund staff to facilitate and coordinate broadband requests, measure the success of the efforts, and forecast future needs and opportunities. Recent broadband reports from the State Department of Information and Technology and the Legislative Finance Council have found deficiencies and opportunities within the current network as well as a path forward to address this growing crisis. Both reports cite that New Mexico has fewer state employees than other states who are solely responsible for broadband implementation and coordination. The reports go on to estimate that the cost for full implementation of broadband could be anywhere between $2-5 billion, but the cost could be covered by federal grants if better coordination were conducted between various projects while leveraging the existing network. You can find a list of broadband bills and Viante’s analysis of them on their website. Again, thank you for your service. I hope you find this issue as important as I do and will use Viante as a resource.