Homer asks FCC to keep internet discount that covers most of the public library's bill

The Homer City Council is asking federal regulators to leave alone a discount that pays most of the public library's internet bill.

The federal E-rate program covers 70 percent of the Homer Public Library's public internet costs, or $11,970 a year, according to a resolution the council adopted Sept. 14. The resolution says many southern Kenai Peninsula residents can't get affordable internet on their own and rely on the library's connection. It says changes to E-rate would mean higher costs for the city, less service at the library, or both, and that the program also supports internet at Kenai Peninsula schools.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in June to open what Chairman Brendan Carr called a "top-to-bottom review" of E-rate, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The review asks whether the program's scope and oversight should be narrowed or changed, and it also looks at educational purpose, screen time and online safety. E-rate provides about $3 billion a year in internet discounts nationwide.

The Alaska State Library says E-rate is what makes internet service affordable for the state's public libraries. The SHLB Coalition, which represents schools, libraries and health providers, is campaigning against narrowing the program. Alaska school superintendents have also asked the FCC not to cut it back, and in Cordova, council member Lee Collins said at a Sept. 2 meeting that students need digital access to learn.

Comments to the FCC are due Oct. 13, and reply comments are due Nov. 12.