CSHB 363(FIN): "An Act establishing the office of broadband; creating the broadband parity adjustment fund; establishing the Statewide Broadband Advisory Board; and providing for an effective date."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 363(FIN) 01 "An Act establishing the office of broadband; creating the broadband parity adjustment 02 fund; establishing the Statewide Broadband Advisory Board; and providing for an 03 effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 44.33 is amended by adding new sections to read: 06 Article 16A. Broadband. 07 Sec. 44.33.910. Office of broadband; purpose, powers, and duties. (a) The 08 office of broadband is established in the Department of Commerce, Community, and 09 Economic Development. 10 (b) The purpose of the office of broadband is to 11 (1) expand broadband access and digital equity in the state through 12 federal, tribal, and local partnerships; 13 (2) focus on broadband infrastructure projects that meet certain speed, 14 latency, reliability, and scalability requirements, while maintaining technological
01 neutrality within those requirements; 02 (3) identify scalable and sustainable technologies that meet the needs 03 of state residents into the future; and 04 (4) support broadband equity and affordability for all state residents. 05 (c) The office of broadband shall 06 (1) prioritize broadband service expansion in the following order of 07 priority: 08 (A) unserved areas; 09 (B) underserved areas; and 10 (C) anchor institutions; 11 (2) make grants to eligible grantees and prioritize grants to grantees 12 with in-state experience, qualifications, and expertise needed to deploy, operate, 13 repair, and maintain broadband infrastructure; 14 (3) develop a procedure for issuance of grants; 15 (4) develop a procedure for adoption of broadband service maps that 16 (A) incorporates the Federal Communications Commission 17 maps developed in accordance with P.L. 116-130 (Broadband DATA Act) to 18 define unserved and underserved areas; 19 (B) allows for broadband parity adjustments; and 20 (C) provides for a process to challenge adoption of broadband 21 service maps, including a public notice and comment period; 22 (5) administer and set criteria for the broadband parity adjustment 23 program under AS 44.33.915; 24 (6) streamline permitting to support broadband deployment; 25 (7) encourage local workforce development with in-state partners 26 through the University of Alaska, technical, vocational, or trade schools, and 27 apprenticeship programs; and 28 (8) review and consider the recommendations of the Statewide 29 Broadband Advisory Board established under AS 44.33.920. 30 (d) The office of broadband shall adopt regulations under AS 44.62 31 (Administrative Procedure Act) to carry out its duties.
01 (e) In this section, "anchor institution" means a school, library, health care 02 facility, health care provider, public safety entity, institution of higher education, 03 public housing organization, community support organization, or other entity that 04 facilitates greater use of broadband service by low-income individuals, unemployed 05 individuals, or elderly individuals. 06 Sec. 44.33.915. Broadband parity adjustment fund. (a) The broadband 07 parity adjustment fund is created as a separate fund in the treasury for the purpose of 08 (1) offsetting the costs of broadband services for consumers under (b) 09 of this section; and 10 (2) making grants to eligible beneficiaries under (c) of this section to 11 improve the performance of and access to broadband across the state. 12 (b) The office of broadband shall set the criteria for offsetting the costs of 13 broadband services for consumers in the state by regulation. 14 (c) An eligible beneficiary may include a resident, business, nonprofit 15 organization, local government, tribal organization as defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304(l), or 16 Native entity as defined in 15 U.S.C. 9501(10) in the state, but may not include a 17 school district, library, or health care facility. 18 (d) The broadband parity adjustment fund shall be administered by the office 19 of broadband. The fund consists of 20 (1) money appropriated by the legislature; 21 (2) gifts, bequests, contributions from other sources, and federal 22 money; and 23 (3) interest earned on the fund balance. 24 (e) The legislature may appropriate money from the broadband parity 25 adjustment fund to the office of broadband to carry out the purposes of the fund. 26 (f) The broadband parity adjustment fund is not a dedicated fund. 27 (g) In this section, 28 (1) "health care facility" has the meaning given in AS 18.23.400(n). 29 (2) "school district" has the meaning given in AS 14.30.350. 30 Sec. 44.33.920. Statewide Broadband Advisory Board. (a) The Statewide 31 Broadband Advisory Board is established.
01 (b) The purpose of the advisory board is to provide technology-neutral input, 02 recommendations, and advice regarding 03 (1) state broadband policy, goals, and objectives; 04 (2) project proposal processes and criteria for project selection; 05 (3) mapping and data collection and sharing efforts; and 06 (4) progress made on the recommendations of the Governor's Task 07 Force on Broadband established under Administrative Order No. 322. 08 (c) The advisory board is composed of 09 (1) the commissioner of education and early development or the 10 commissioner's designee; 11 (2) the commissioner of commerce, community, and economic 12 development or the commissioner's designee; 13 (3) two members from the legislature, serving as ex officio nonvoting 14 members, one of whom shall be appointed by the president of the senate and one by 15 the speaker of the house of representatives; and 16 (4) nine additional members, at least two of whom live in an unserved 17 or underserved area, appointed by the governor to three-year terms representing 18 (A) a local government; 19 (B) an Alaska Native corporation; 20 (C) a tribal government; 21 (D) a school district; 22 (E) the University of Alaska; 23 (F) the health care community; 24 (G) the business community; 25 (H) the broadband industry; and 26 (I) a broadband consumer. 27 (d) The advisory board shall establish a broadband technical working group to 28 provide technical recommendations to the advisory board. The advisory board shall 29 appoint individuals to the technical working group who collectively have expertise in 30 the different technologies that provide broadband service in the state and who manage 31 and deliver projects in the state. The broadband industry representative on the advisory
01 board shall also serve on the broadband technical working group. 02 (e) Members of the advisory board shall elect a chair from among the 03 members listed in or appointed under (c)(1), (2), or (4) of this section. 04 (f) Members of the advisory board are not entitled to compensation, per diem, 05 or reimbursement of travel expenses. 06 Sec. 44.33.930. Definitions. In AS 44.33.910 - 44.33.930, 07 (1) "underserved area" means an area that does not have broadband 08 speeds of at least 100 Megabits per second downstream and at least 20 Megabits per 09 second upstream with a latency sufficient to support real-time interactive applications; 10 (2) "unserved area" means an area that does not have broadband 11 speeds of at least 25 Megabits per second downstream and at least 3 Megabits per 12 second upstream with a latency sufficient to support real-time interactive applications. 13 * Sec. 2. AS 44.33.910, 44.33.915, 44.33.920, and 44.33.930 are repealed June 30, 2030. 14 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).