Legislature(2023 - 2024)ADAMS 519
02/08/2024 01:30 PM House FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB89 | |
| HB178 | |
| HB193 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 89 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 193 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 178 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HOUSE BILL NO. 193
"An Act relating to funding for Internet services for
school districts; and providing for an effective
date."
Co-Chair Foster moved to the next bill on the agenda.
2:54:24 PM
Co-Chair Edgmon provided a brief overview of the bill. He
reminded the committee that the bill was last heard on May
11, 2023. He summarized that the bill would allow school
districts to utilize state programs that were implemented
in 2014 and apply for higher levels of internet capability
via increased megabytes per second (MBps). He detailed that
the program began at 10MBps, progressed to 25MBps in 2020,
and the bill proposed 100MBPS. He explained that through
the Broadband Assistance Grant (BAG) program primary and
secondary schools and libraries applied to qualify to
access federal money through the Federal Universal Services
program. Every state dollar was matched by $8.00 or $9.00
of federal funds. The program needed a change in statute.
2:55:50 PM
Co-Chair Foster OPENED Public Testimony.
2:57:19 PM
MADELINE AGUILLARD, SUPERINTENDENT, KUSPUK SCHOOL DISTRICT,
testified in support of the bill. She reported that under
the current 25MBps the district had to stagger state
testing among the different schools in the district. The
district had to arrange schedules and monitor internet use
with the bandwidth at maximum capacity every day. In
addition, the district had approximately 50 classes online
with 310 students participating. It represented a large
percentage of core classwork because the district lacked
enough teachers. She emphasized how crucial internet was to
the district for students to have access to an education
and that the district was very reliant on broadband.
3:00:02 PM
KIM HANISCH, SUPERINTENDENT, UNALASKA SCHOOL DISTRICT,
testified in support of the bill. She informed the
committee that the district had access to fiber optics in
the prior year and had the potential to reach 100MBps. The
district opted to increase it to 50MBps in order to retain
its e-rate funding but had lost a lot of the funding.
Currently, it cost the district more to provide 50MBps and
she characterized the situation as counter intuitive.
However, at 50MBps the district was able to provide more
services and resources the students could access. She
encouraged the committee to support the bill.
3:01:43 PM
Representative Galvin thanked Ms. Hanisch for all her hard
work.
Representative Ortiz asked Ms. Hanisch how long she had
been the superintendent in Unalaska. Ms. Hanisch replied
that it was her first year. Representative Ortiz asked if
broadband had improved. Ms. Hanisch answered in the
affirmative. She added that it was the first year of the
increase to 50MBps and it made a huge positive impact.
Representative Ortiz thanked her for her testimony.
3:03:04 PM
Representative Stapp relayed that John Conwell was an
amazing prior superintendent. He thought it was a highly
successful school.
3:03:57 PM
LISA PARADY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA COUNCIL OF SCHOOL
ADMINISTRATORS, testified in favor of HB 193. She offered
that the council represented all superintendents, school
officials, principals, and school districts. She remarked
on how significantly important the bill was for remote
rural schools. She indicated that the bill would raise the
cap for BAG to the FCC minimum standard for bandwidth in
schools. She believed that the students deserved the
increase. The COVID pandemic highlighted the "digital
inequity" between rural and urban schools and their ability
for urban schools to switch to digital learning while rural
schools could not. She thought that the situation was an
equity issue and with the new infrastructure money coming
in it was time to support rural districts. She voiced that
even 100MBps was low given levels in Anchorage. She
concluded that access to bandwidth was necessary and vital
for learning and innovation. In addition, increased
bandwidth created efficiencies and supported communities
for online health services. She did not think geography
should determine learning opportunities. She urged for
passage of the bill.
Co-Chair Foster asked when the application deadline was.
Ms. Parady responded that the date was February 27, 2024,
due to a month prior notification requirement, it was a
"drop dead" deadline.
3:07:40 PM
Co-Chair Edgmon thanked Ms. Parady for her leadership on
the issue. He noted that in the near future 100MBps would
likely be the floor instead of the ceiling. Ms. Parady
recalled working on the 10MBps BAG bill with Co-Chair
Edgmon, Senator Olson, and Senator Hoffman and thanked Co-
Chair Edgmon for his leadership on the bill.
3:08:46 PM
AMY EAKIN, DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY, NORTHWEST ARTIC BOROUGH
SCHOOL DISTRICT (via teleconference), testified in support
of the bill. She related that access to broadband was a
fundamental necessity for education, especially in remote
regions and played a critical role. The current 25MBps was
insufficient with the increased online curriculum, testing,
and business operation needs, which had escalated
dramatically. Currently, the internet was "frustratingly"
slow and inhibited use for all district users. She cited a
Five Year Internet Action Plan published in September 2023,
that reported Broadband Now's annual ranking; Alaska ranked
fifty-first for Alaska internet coverage, speed, and
availability. She asked the committee to image living with
25MBps at home and the difficulty it would impose. She
relayed the size of the district's schools all sharing
25MBps. The district had to establish extensive measures to
operate at the limited capacity like website blocking, per
device access throttling, restricting personal devices, and
scheduling software updates after 3:30pm all to ensure
uninterrupted access to essential resources during school
hours. She indicated that testing was limited to 20
students at a time with staggered start times. She
continued to describe the negative impacts during testing
and school hours with 25MBps. She shared that the district
hub, Kotzebue, lost its fiberoptic cable temporarily. She
turned to Starlink as a temporary measure. The district had
13 schools which spans a geographic area similar to the
state of Indiana. She mentioned the harsh climate that
impacted structures and travel. The technology department
consisted of 5 individuals and heavily relied on the
district internet service provider, who was under contract,
to keep things operational; Starlink did not provide
support services and dish placement on roofs was unsafe due
to roof access during the winter. She described another
district school's issues and inefficiencies due to
insufficient broadband access who supplemented its
broadband and lost its BAG money. She continued that if
district schools supplemented with Starlink it jeopardized
future grant funding but without it learning and operations
were a "constant struggle" on a daily basis. She mentioned
more issues with mounting the disc and voiced that Starlink
was not a long-term viable option for the district. She
reiterated the negative impacts of 25MBps on operations and
student learning and stressed that the children deserved an
equitable education. She urged for support to meet the
bill's deadlines.
3:16:52 PM
Representative Stapp thanked Ms. Eakin for her testimony
especially related to using Starlink. He asked who the
internet service provider for the district was. Ms. Eakin
responded that it was GCI.
3:17:53 PM
JENNIFER ELLER, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND
INFRASTRUCTURE, BERING STRAIT SCHOOL DISTRICT, UNALKLEET
(via teleconference), supported the legislation. She shared
her credentials and that she worked for the district for
4.5 years. She related that the BAG program made it
possible for districts to increase internet speeds while
reducing the financial burden on districts. Increasing
internet capacity would not be financially possible without
the BAG program. The cost of internet access was not always
accounted for in the BSA leaving small rural school
districts relying on the BAG program to cover the
substantial portion of internet costs. She related that
Internet access was a necessity, and it was imperative in
order to provide a modern equitable educational experience.
The cost of internet should not be the driver of the
inequity. She communicated that according to the state's
digital equity plan, 80 percent of Alaskans could not
obtain internet access at an affordable price and 20
percent lacked access to a high-speed plan. Schools were
community anchors, and for many students it was their only
access to high-speed internet. She emphasized that if rural
schools wanted to stay in the roll of community anchor by
playing a key role in decreasing digital equality by
providing increased bandwidth it would be through passage
of HB 193. She also spoke of staggering testing time and
the disruptions it brings to schools. She urged for passage
of the bill.
3:21:50 PM
Representative Stapp asked who the internet service
provider was for the district. Ms. Eller responded that it
was GCI.
Co-Chair Foster CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Foster requested a fiscal note review.
3:23:43 PM
KAREN MORRISON, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND SUPPORT SERVICES,
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT, spoke to the
published fiscal impact fiscal note (FN1 (EED) from the
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
allocated to Broadband assistance Grants dated January 24,
2024. She explained that the bill amended AS 14.03.127
funding for internet services that provided authority to
the department to provide state funded grants to Alaska
school districts with funding for the purpose of increasing
download speed for internet services for eligible schools
to reach up to 100 megabytes per second (Mbps). She
delineated that in FY 2023 the legislature appropriated
$6.6 million for Alaska BAG. The program provided grant
funding to 151 eligible Alaska schools to reach up to 25
Mbps. In FY 2024, the legislature appropriated $6.7 million
for BAG to 136 eligible Alaska schools to reach up to 25
Mbps download speeds. She furthered that the department
posted a request for information (RFI) on the state's
online public notices website titled "School Internet
Service Increased Costs Estimate." The department sought
input from Alaska's internet service industry to estimate
the total projected funding needs for schools to increase
their internet speeds from the maximum allowable from
25MBps to 100MBps. Although the department received
responses that provided general descriptive pricing
changes, the information was limited due to confidential
proprietary processes. It was unknown how many newly
eligible schools would apply if the funding cap was
increased to 100MBps. The fiscal note reflected its
understanding of the potential impact to DEED for the
program if more newly eligible schools applied for the
program. In FY 2025, DEED estimated that $39.4 million in
grant funding would be needed for all eligible BAG schools
to reach up to 100Mbps download speeds. A 1.5 percent
indirect rate adjustment for administration of the program
was included.
3:27:22 PM
Representative Stapp asked how many vendors responded to
the RFI.
3:27:47 PM
LAUREL SHOOP, SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND LEGISLATIVE LIAISON,
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT, answered
that subsequent to the public listing, DEED received five
responses from vendors, which many were narrative responses
that lacked concrete projections.
3:28:25 PM
Representative Galvin asked more about the RFI process. She
wondered whether the department considered that some
vendors had served areas of Alaska and not others. She
asked if DEED considered bifurcation. She wanted to
understand how the costs were anticipated and if the
assumption was the department would work with multiple
vendors. Ms. Shoop responded that there was a publically
available list of vendors with e-rate data. She delineated
that the department arrived at the fiscal note number by
using a linear projection.
Representative Stapp deduced that internet service
providers (ISPs) did not disclose private projections. He
asked what happened if the price was double the
projections. He wondered if there would be a request in the
supplemental budget. Ms. Shoop responded that the awards
would be prorated if the funding was not sufficient, which
was a DEED regulation. Representative Stapp asked if the
funding was pro-rated to the districts, what were the
results. He inquired whether the districts would receive
lower MBps. Ms. Shoop relayed that the funding distribution
would be proportionate to all of the awards and would be
based on a proration that was evenly distributed to all
districts. Representative Stapp wondered if DEED would know
the rates ahead of time, based on the contracts with the
ISP provider. Ms. Shoop responded that it was known how
much funding was appropriated by the legislature but DEED
would not necessarily know the funding cost of the
applications. She furthered that the majority of districts
were on contracts and were aware of their costs. However,
the department did not know what schools would apply.
3:33:05 PM
Representative Stapp understood that ultimately, the money
would be distributed to internet providers. He asked what
the price transparency for the ISPs was or if that
prevented them from charging any exorbitant amount. Ms.
Shoop replied that the e-rate program had an open data
source where all of the pricing was posted and was publicly
available.
Co-Chair Edgmon understood that the application process was
extensive and the criteria through the federal Universal
Services program was rigid. He shared that the number of
applicants decreased in the prior year to roughly 130 from
151 the year before. He viewed the program as a vital
bridge towards the future as other high speed capabilities
were established. He guessed that there could be less
applicants in the following years due to some schools
finding other means of high speed internet.
3:35:56 PM
CHRISTINE O'CONNOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA TELECOM
ASSOCIATION, WASILLA (via teleconference), remarked that
more fiber networks were deploying across the state due to
infrastructure funding. The rates were decreasing due to
the deployment and much more capacity was available at the
same rates. The cost would not be simple and linear. She
indicated that more rate compression would happen with the
new networks. Another factor was the e-rate competitive
bidding process, which was rigorous and transparent through
district RFPs. She noted that more ISPs were responding,
which increased competition and decreased prices. There
were strict regulations for the competitive process, so the
rates were unknown until the RFP process played out. The e-
rates had decreased in every year of the program.
Representative Stapp asked how many people bid on the prior
RFP. Ms. O'Connor replied that she did not know the answer.
She added that every school district issued its own RFP and
there were dozens of RFPs. The Universal Service program
required that every telecom provider participating in the
program had to respond. She reminded Representative Stapp
that the data was available and easily accessible on the
public website.
3:39:24 PM
Co-Chair Foster wondered whether he should set an amendment
deadline or if the will of the committee was to move the
bill.
3:39:43 PM
Representative Ortiz thought the bill's deadline was
approaching and he sensed that there was broad-based
support in the committee. He favored moving the bill.
3:40:42 PM
Representative Coulombe stated that she was considering an
amendment.
Co-Chair Foster set the deadline for Tuesday, February 13,
2024, at noon.
3:41:10 PM
HB 198 was HEARD and HELD for further consideration.
Co-Chair Foster reviewed the agenda for the following
committee meeting.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 89 Amendments 1-2.pdf |
HFIN 2/8/2024 1:30:00 PM |
HB 89 |
| HB 89 Galvin Amendment 2 Explanation.pdf |
HFIN 2/8/2024 1:30:00 PM |
HB 89 |
| HB 193 Public Testimony Rec'd by 020824.pdf |
HFIN 2/8/2024 1:30:00 PM |
HB 193 |
| HB 178 DEC Letter re Best Practices VSW 012524.pdf |
HFIN 2/8/2024 1:30:00 PM |
HB 178 |