Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes joint power entities to issue mortgage revenue and industrial development bonds.

Highlights:

• Specifies the locations prioritized by the Public Utilities Commission includes entities that lack sufficient high-bandwidth connections, including, but not limited to, all of the following (Sec. 3-11549.54.d):

• Elementary and secondary schools;

• Community colleges and other institutions of higher education;

• Government entities;

• Healthcare institutions;

• Libraries;

• Public safety answering points and technologies to assist in the prevention or response to natural disasters, including, but not limited to, fairgrounds; and

• Tribal lands.

• Requires the Department of Technology to create a broadband advisory committee to monitor the construction and establishment of the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network. The broadband advisory committee will comprise all of the following members (Sec. 3-11549.58.c):

• A representative of the commission.

• A representative of the department.

• A representative of the Department of Transportation.

• A representative of the Department of Finance.

• A representative of the Government Operations Agency.

• 2 ex officio members, who shall be members of the Assembly and be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. These ex officio members shall serve at the pleasure of the Speaker of the Assembly.

• 2 ex officio members, who shall be members of the Senate and be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. These ex officio members shall serve at the pleasure of the Senate Committee on Rules.

• Requires The commission shall maximize investments in new, robust, and scalable infrastructure and use California Advanced Services Fund money to leverage federal and non-California Advanced Services Fund money by undertaking activities, including, but not limited to, all of the following (Sec. 7-5):

• Providing technical assistance to local governments and providers;

• Assisting in developing grant applications; and

• Assisting in preparing definitive plans for deploying necessary infrastructure in each county, including coordination across contiguous counties.

• Authorizes the commission to make cashflow loans to the Broadband Loan Loss Reserve Fund from accounts and creates the following rules (Sec. 8-2):

• The commission may create, among other things, eligibility requirements, financing terms and conditions, and allocation criteria, for infrastructure projects deployed using financing supported in whole or in part by funds;

• The commission may require a local government agency or nonprofit organization to provide information demonstrating the agency’s or nonprofit organization’s ability to reasonably finance and implement the infrastructure project deployed using financing supported in whole or in part by funds;

• The commission will mandate each local government agency or nonprofit organization receiving funds under this law to file both of the following reports in the form and manner specified by the commission:

• Biannual progress reports identifying project milestones and percent completions to date, and including other information as the commission may prescribe; and

• A completion report, including a full description of the completed project, comparison of approved versus actual costs of construction, speed test data for all areas served by the project, and other information as the commission may prescribe.

• Prohibits a reimbursement from being required by this act because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, or changes the definition of a crime (Sec. 12).

Full Bill Text