SB 102-INTERNET FOR SCHOOLS; FUNDING  8:05:40 AM CHAIR HUGHES announced the consideration of SB 102. 8:05:48 AM BRITTANY HUTCHISON, Staff, Senator Anna MacKinnon, Alaska State Legislature, reviewed SB 102 on behalf of the Senate Finance Committee. She related that the goals of the suite of bills are to prioritize K-12 education and how the legislature spends limited funds. They propose to improve outcomes for Alaska students and to provide for efficiency and streamlined deliveries of education processes and procedures. Alaska student outcomes are not where they should be to be prepared for life after high school. Alaska students deserve a 21st Century Education. 8:07:01 AM MS. HUTCHISON addressed concerns regarding SB 102. According to the Alaska Telephone Association bandwidth can be prioritized within the network and each provider can control the traffic as schools request it in their contract. All schools in Alaska are currently able to go up to 25 Mbps, even those using satellite. An increased internet capability can help resolve latency and buffering issues, depending on how many people/classrooms use it at once. The bill will not require any new infrastructure and does not pay for anything but internet services. 8:07:56 AM CHAIR HUGHES noted she would distribute ATA's letter of support. 8:08:35 AM HEIDI TESHNER, Director, Administrative Services, Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), addressed the fiscal note for SB 102. She explained that the fiscal note is for a library operations component, with $34,000 requested for the increased E-rate contractor to approve the applications, for technical assistance, and for regulation changes. She said $16 million is estimated in the grant component to bring the 197 schools up to 25 Mbps. 8:09:40 AM SENATOR BEGICH confirmed that name change is to the Higher Education Fund. MS. TESHNER said yes. 8:10:01 AM PATIENCE FREDERIKSEN, Director, Division of Libraries, Archives, & Museums, Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), presented information on SB 102. She explained that the division has been running the School Broadband Assistance Grant (School BAG) program for three years. They have the capacity to add 64 more schools to the School BAG program. 8:10:32 AM SENATOR BEGICH asked how many schools would be served. MS. FREDERIKSEN replied that 133 schools are receiving services now; there are 197 schools that would need support to get to 25 Mbps. 8:11:13 AM SENATOR BEGICH said he would support passing the bill out of committee, but disagrees with the funding source. He wanted to have more than three days to vet the bill. 8:11:50 AM SENATOR COGHILL thought the bill was a good solution. SENATOR COGHILL moved to report SB 102, version A, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. CHAIR HUGHES announced that without objection, SB 102 moved from the Senate Education Standing Committee.