Senate Appropriations Committee

• Attended hearings on Tuesday, Feb. 24 and 25, 2009, where HB3 was presented. Senator Bray asked if MOREnet was in a position to compete for Federal Stimulus Funding. Paul Wagner, Deputy Commissioner for DHE, responded that MOREnet was well positioned.

Senate Select Committee on Oversight of Federal Stimulus Plan

• Chip Byers attended a hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009, where the Senate Committee received a briefing from the National Association of State Legislatures. There was not any new information regarding the Broadband Stimulus funding.

House Appropriations, Education Committee

• Attended hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009, where President Forsee made a presentation regarding the University of Missouri. There were no questions about MOREnet.
• Attended hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, where Chairman Thomson read a draft of the Committee report that will be presented to the House Budget Committee. No specific budget recommendations were included in the draft report.

Stimulus Related Meetings

• Spoke with Paul Wilson, Governor’s Senior Counsel for Budget and Finance, regarding the Broadband Stimulus funding.
• Met with Mark Reading, Governor’s Transform Missouri Director and discussed the Broadband Stimulus funding, including the emerging rule making process, the requirement for a 20% match, etc.

Next Week

• The House Budget Committee will meet Tuesday and Wednesday and each of the Chair of each of the Appropriations sub-committees will present their reports. They hope to complete the budget recommendations by March 12, 2009.