A budget hearing on Tuesday in the state Capitol highlighted an ongoing labor wage rate concern that has some worried about Pennsylvania’s ability to bring broadband to underserved areas of the state.

House Appropriations Committee Minority Chair Jim Struzzi, R-Indiana, said the state has been sitting on $1.16 billion “and my concern is, without making this change, that money could do significantly less.”

Several House Republicans questioned Labor and Industry Secretary Nancy Walker about whether her department would change how broadband and fiber-optic cable workers are classified within Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage rates for the construction industry. 

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