As families are preparing the return to school and fall sports practices are beginning, the hard work and great
memories of county fairs starting to wrap up, and farmers beginning to see their crops take shape in the field after
another tumultuous year of weather, things have also been very active and busy at your Nebraska Public Service
Commission as well this summer.

Last November, I was thankful to have been elected by you to serve as the new Public Service Commissioner for the
31 counties of PSC District 4. I am excited to be serving you in this new role and to be bringing our voice back to the
PSC.

It’s been just over 7 months since taking the oath of office to represent you and I wanted to share another update on
the work that has been getting done over the past 3 months since I wrote the Spring 2023 District 4 Update.
Many who are reading this likely have not heard much of the happenings and work of the PSC as it is an elected body
in Nebraska that does not typically receive a lot of media coverage.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission is an elected 5 member statewide board that oversees several industries
which affect our everyday lives including broadband internet and telecommunications, the 911 network and service,
oil and natural gas pipeline routes and industry regulation, railroad lines, commercial grain storage licensing,
commercial ground transportation licensing and regulation, and modular/manufactured housing safety regulation.
The summer months have been fast and full with a lot of productive work.

I continue to be incredibly thankful to the PSC staff for their passion, dedication, and expertise in helping all of us
Commissioners do our jobs effectively and carry out our service to the people who elected us.

One of the biggest votes of the summer at the PSC was the unanimous awarding of federal Capital Projects Fund (CPF)
broadband expansion grants totaling $61 million statewide. These were federal funds that were designated to
Nebraska because of the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Of the $61 million in statewide broadband
grants awarded, the majority of the funds ($36.2 million) are going to build out and serve 35 towns and rural project
areas within District 4. As a result of this round of grants, roughly 21,000 homes across all of Nebraska will be getting
connected to high speed and reliable broadband internet. This accounted for 23% of all Nebraska homes still lacking
broadband access.

This momentous allocation of broadband expansion funds for Nebraska is in addition to the great news that Nebraska
will also be receiving another $405 million in federal broadband funds through the Broadband Equity and Access
Deployment (BEAD) program to be distributed by the Nebraska Broadband Office over the next two years. The Public
Service Commission and several stakeholders were vital in getting Nebraska an additional roughly $100 million
allocated to our state through this federal program thanks to bulk service location challenges made to the Federal
Communications Commission National Broadband Map.

In addition to these exciting developments in the broadband expansion front, the PSC also began discussions to
launch a third round of the state funded Broadband Bridge Grant Program later this year, voted to keep the Nebraska
Universal Service Fund rate the same as last year, and held a hearing to implement a freeze on any taxpayer support
dollars going toward any companies operating in Nebraska that have certain FCC prohibited telecommunications
equipment from China in use on their networks.

The PSC also approved annual funding for several 911 Call Centers across Nebraska and funding for the
implementation of the Next Generation 911 System, announced the hire of a Motive Power & Equipment Railroad &
Train Safety Inspector, approved penalties against several out of compliance motor transportation carriers, approved
penalties against a few commercial grain storage facilities that were out of compliance to protect ag producers, set a

grain storage rate range for commercial grain storage facilities to follow also protecting farmers, and reviewed natural
gas providers’ policy’s to make it easier for customers to understand their service and bills.

As summer is for most Nebraskans, it was an exciting and busy time at the Public Service Commission as well. I
pledge to continue working hard for all the people of the 4th District and I will continue keeping you informed by
sharing these quarterly updates to local newspapers and media outlets throughout PSC District 4 as well as posting
them on the PSC website and my social media pages.

If you have any questions or have an issue that relates to any of the industries the PSC works with that I or our staff
can assist with, please reach out to our office at 402-471-3101 or by email at eric.kamler@nebraska.gov.

I am truly thankful for this opportunity and honor you have entrusted me with to make Nebraska an even better place
to call home and I am excited for this time of serving you on the Nebraska Public Service Commission!

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- Eric Kamler

  Nebraska Public Service Commissioner, District #4