1 SB124
2 216375-5
3 By Senator Scofield
4 RFD: Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development
5 First Read: 01-FEB-22
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1 SB124
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4 ENROLLED, An Act,
5 Relating to the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Act;
6 to amend Sections 41-23-211, 41-23-212, 41-23-213, and
7 41-23-214, Code of Alabama 1975; to increase the minimum
8 threshold speeds for broadband service grants; to include
9 references to the Alabama broadband mapping program and
10 state-wide connectivity plan; to revise criteria and
11 eligibility for the awarding of grants; to revise the window
12 for grant applications; to revise the grant application
13 procedures; and to allow for a project extension in certain
14 circumstances.
15 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
16 Section 1. Sections 41-23-211, 41-23-212, 41-23-213,
17 and 41-23-214, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as
18 follows:
19 "41-23-211.
20 "The Legislature finds that the availability of
21 high-speed broadband services, with the preference of speeds
22 of 25 100 megabits per second of download speed and three 100
23 megabits per second of upload speed or greater, in unserved
24 rural Alabama is important for economic development,
25 education, health care, and emergency services in Alabama, and
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1 that grants and other incentives set forth in this article
2 will further those objectives by encouraging new investment in
3 broadband infrastructure.
4 "41-23-212.
5 "For the purposes of this article, the following
6 words have the following meanings:
7 "(1) ADECA. The Alabama Department of Economic and
8 Community Affairs.
9 "(2) END USER. A residential, business,
10 institutional, or government entity that uses broadband
11 services for its own purposes and does not resell such
12 broadband services to other entities. An Internet service
13 provider (ISP) and mobile wireless service provider are not an
14 end user for the purposes of Sections 41-23-212, 41-23-213,
15 and 41-23-214.
16 "(3) MIDDLE MILE PROJECT. A broadband infrastructure
17 project that does not provide broadband service to end users
18 or to end-user devices.
19 "(4) MINIMUM SERVICE THRESHOLD. A connection to the
20 Internet that provides capacity for transmission at an average
21 speed per customer of at least 25 megabits (25 Mbps) 100
22 megabits (100 Mbps) per second downstream and at least three
23 20 megabits (3 20 Mbps) per second upstream.
24 "(5) RURAL AREA. Any area within this state not
25 included within the boundaries of any incorporated city or
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1 town having a population in excess of 25,000 inhabitants,
2 according to the last federal census.
3 "(6) UNSERVED AREA. Any rural area in which there is
4 not at least one provider of terrestrial broadband service
5 that is either: (1) offering a connection to the Internet
6 meeting the minimum service threshold; or (2) is required,
7 under the terms of the Federal Universal Service Fund or other
8 federal or state grant, another state or federal grant to
9 provide a connection to the Internet at speeds meeting the
10 minimum service threshold by March 28, 2023 within the same or
11 similar timeframe of projects of similar complexity or scale
12 awarded during each grant cycle.
13 "41-23-213.
14 "(a) The Director of ADECA may establish and
15 administer the broadband accessibility grant program for the
16 purpose of promoting the deployment and adoption of broadband
17 Internet access services to unserved areas. By June 26, 2018,
18 the The director shall adopt rules and policies to administer
19 the program and begin to accept applications for grants, and
20 shall adopt such rules as may be necessary to meet the future
21 needs of the grant program.
22 "(b) The program shall be administered pursuant to
23 policies developed by ADECA in compliance with this article.
24 The policies shall provide for the awarding of grants to
25 non-governmental entities that are cooperatives, corporations,
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1 limited liability companies, partnerships, or other private
2 business entities, or units of government that provide
3 broadband services. An entity is not eligible for a grant
4 under this article unless the entity has submitted, within the
5 one-year period preceding the awarding of the grant, the
6 entity's broadband service availability information to
7 Alabama's broadband mapping program. Nothing in this article
8 shall expand the authority under state law of any entity to
9 provide broadband service.
10 "(c) There is hereby created the Alabama Broadband
11 Accessibility Fund in the State Treasury. The fund is subject
12 to appropriations by the Legislature and gifts, grants, and
13 other donations received by ADECA for the broadband
14 accessibility grant program or fund. All state and federal
15 grant monies deposited in the fund shall be expended by ADECA
16 in accordance with the statewide connectivity plan and any
17 legal requirements applicable to those grant monies, including
18 their program eligibility, deployment, and reporting
19 requirements. ADECA may not spend appropriations for the
20 program for purposes other than those listed in this section.
21 Any monies appropriated to ADECA for broadband grants that are
22 unspent at the end of a fiscal year shall be carried over for
23 use by the program in the next fiscal year. ADECA shall
24 develop rules ensuring that expenses incurred to administer
25 the program must not exceed the lesser of seven percent of the
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1 total amount appropriated for the program in any fiscal year
2 or seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000). Moneys
3 Monies in the fund shall be invested by the State Treasurer
4 for the sole benefit of the fund.
5 "(d)(1) Individual grants awarded by ADECA under
6 this section may only be awarded for projects in unserved
7 areas that will be capable of transmitting broadband signals
8 at or above 100 megabits per second of download speed and 100
9 megabits per second of upload speed, and may not exceed the
10 lesser of:
11 "a. Thirty-five Eighty percent of the project costs.
12 "b. One Five million five hundred thousand dollars
13 ($1,500,000) ($5,000,000) for projects that will be capable of
14 transmitting broadband signals at or above the minimum service
15 threshold.
16 "(2) Grants may be given to any qualified entity
17 pursuant to subsection (b) that meets the service criteria for
18 expenditures after March 28, 2018.
19 "(3) ADECA shall ensure that not less than 40
20 percent of funds appropriated for grants be utilized in
21 unincorporated areas of the state.
22 "(4) Subject to the limitations in this subsection,
23 grants shall be awarded pursuant to the service criteria
24 developed by ADECA, with priority given to projects that meet
25 any of the following:
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1 "a. Seek to leverage grant funds through private
2 investment and extension of existing infrastructure.
3 "b. Serve locations with demonstrated community
4 support, including, but not limited to, documented support
5 from local government.
6 "c. Demonstrate the operator's technical and
7 managerial capabilities to complete the project within two
8 years of the grant the required timeframe.
9 "d. Demonstrate the applicants' necessary financial
10 resources.
11 "e. Are most cost effective and technically
12 efficient in that they propose to serve the highest number of
13 unserved homes, businesses, and community anchor points for
14 the least grant fund cost and best level of service,
15 emphasizing projects including the highest broadband speeds.
16 "f. Provide material broadband enhancement to
17 hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities located in
18 rural areas.
19 "g. Support local libraries in this state for the
20 purpose of assisting the libraries in offering digital
21 literacy training pursuant to state library and archive
22 guidelines.
23 "h. Provide support for the deployment of
24 infrastructure to be owned and operated exclusively by
25 Internet service providers serving subscribers in Alabama for
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1 at least three years or organizations incorporated,
2 headquartered, or with a principal place of business in
3 Alabama.
4 "i. Commit to improving the adoption rate of
5 broadband services by offering programs to households that
6 meet guidelines established by ADECA or the funding source,
7 including, but not limited to, special service rates,
8 Internet-enabled devices that meet the needs of the user, and
9 digital skills training.
10 "(5) For the purposes of awarding grants, ADECA
11 shall take into consideration the average pole attachment
12 rates that a grant applicant charges to an unaffiliated
13 entity, provided that this subdivision shall not apply to a
14 utility as defined under Section 37-4-1(7)a.
15 "(6) In order to promote the deployment of grant
16 funds in an inclusive manner that is consistent with the
17 racial, gender, geographic, urban, rural, and economic
18 diversity of the state, ADECA may give additional
19 consideration to an applicant that provides documentation that
20 it has been certified by the ADECA Office of Minority Business
21 Enterprise or otherwise as a Disadvantaged Business
22 Enterprise. For projects funded under Sections 41-23-212,
23 41-23-213, and 41-23-214 this article, ADECA shall encourage
24 grant applicants to use vendors and subcontractors that have
25 been certified by the Office of Minority Business Enterprise
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1 or that are Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. ADECA shall
2 include in its report to the Alabama Rural Broadband Oversight
3 Committee a list of entities certified by the Office of
4 Minority Business Enterprise and Disadvantaged Business
5 Enterprises that have been awarded grants since the prior
6 report.
7 "(e) For each fiscal year in which grant funds are
8 available, ADECA shall accept applications within a
9 60-to-90-day grant window that it shall establish. However,
10 when necessary to meet the requirements of other funding
11 sources, a grant window of 30 days may be established by
12 ADECA. ADECA shall review each application for eligibility as
13 determined by the state map. Any applicant submitting a
14 project that includes served areas as documented by the state
15 map shall be given an opportunity to revise the application to
16 eliminate ineligible portions or rescind the application.
17 Applications for eligible projects will shall be evaluated
18 according to a scoring system developed by ADECA that
19 incorporates the priorities listed in this section, with grant
20 awards published within 90 days after expiration of the filing
21 window as soon as possible, but no more than 60 days after
22 expiration of the filing window. Grant applications shall be
23 published by ADECA on the Internet at the end of the filing
24 window, and existing service providers shall have 30 business
25 days from the date of publication to file objections to the
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1 eligibility of a proposed project. ADECA shall address any
2 objections within 30 days of submission and shall make any
3 appropriate changes to grant awards based on a finding of
4 ineligibility resulting from such protest. Subject to such
5 protest procedure, grants Grants issued by ADECA shall be
6 conditioned upon compliance with the terms of the grant but
7 shall not otherwise be revocable. Providers' grants shall be
8 paid within 30 days upon ADECA receiving written certification
9 of the completion of the project and evidence of compliance
10 with the terms of the grant as prescribed by ADECA.
11 "(f) Grants shall be conditioned on project
12 completion within two years of awarding of the grant.
13 Applicants who demonstrate project complexity may request more
14 than two years to complete the project. Recipients who
15 demonstrate that the project is progressing may request an
16 extension for up to one year for project delays beyond the
17 recipient's control. If a recipient fails to complete a
18 project within the two-year deadline, or within the extended
19 deadline due to reasons other than delay caused by a
20 government entity, ADECA may revoke the grant in its entirety
21 and rededicate the funds to a new recipient.
22 "(g) ADECA shall condition the release of any grant
23 funds awarded under this chapter on both of all of the
24 following:
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1 "(1) The progressive completion, as measured on not
2 more than a quarterly basis, of the approved project. Grants
3 for projects not showing progress may be rescinded.
4 "(2) Operational testing, when possible, to confirm
5 the level of service proposed in the grant application. Such
6 regulations shall not exceed in degree or differ in kind from
7 testing and reporting requirements imposed on the grant
8 recipient by the Federal Communications Commission, as
9 adjusted for the service specifications in the ADECA grant
10 agreement.
11 "(3) Continued participation in Alabama's broadband
12 mapping program throughout the entire project period.
13 "(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
14 section, eligible projects shall include any of the following:
15 "(1) Projects to serve unserved areas in which the
16 grant applicant is either or both: a. an existing or future
17 service provider which has or will receive support through
18 federal universal service funding programs designed
19 specifically to encourage broadband deployment in an area
20 without broadband access; or b. an existing or future service
21 provider entity that currently provides services which has or
22 will receive other forms of federal or state financial support
23 or assistance, such as a grant or loan from the United States
24 Department of Agriculture; provided, however, that any award
25 of state funds under this section, when combined with other
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1 forms of state or federal support or assistance dedicated to
2 the project, other than interest-bearing loans, may not exceed
3 60 90 percent of the total project costs. Nothing in this
4 section shall prohibit a grant applicant who has not
5 previously received any federal or state funds, grants, or
6 loans for broadband deployment from applying for and receiving
7 grant funds under this section.
8 "(2) Middle mile projects, where the applicant
9 demonstrates that the project will connect other service
10 providers eligible for grants under this section with
11 broadband infrastructure further upstream in order to enable
12 the providers to offer broadband service to end users;
13 provided that eligible projects under this subdivision may
14 include projects in an unserved area or a rural area that does
15 not meet the definition of an unserved area but otherwise
16 meets the requirements of this section, for which the grant
17 applicant demonstrates, by specific evidence, the need for
18 greater broadband speeds, access, capacity, resiliency, or
19 service which is not being offered by an existing service
20 provider.
21 "(3) Projects to provide broadband service to a
22 specific hospital, health care facility, public school, public
23 safety, or economic development site in a rural area that does
24 not meet the definition of an unserved area but otherwise
25 meets the requirements of this section, for which the grant
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1 applicant demonstrates, by specific evidence, the need for
2 greater broadband speeds, access, capacity, resiliency, or
3 service which is not being offered by an existing service
4 provider.
5 "(4) Grants issued under subdivisions (2) and (3)
6 shall not exceed 40 percent of the total funds appropriated
7 for grants on an annual basis.
8 "(i) Nothing in this section shall affect the
9 approval and continued funding of grants awarded prior to May
10 30, 2019.
11 "41-23-214.
12 "(a) There is created the Alabama Rural Broadband
13 Oversight Committee. The oversight committee shall consist of
14 the Chair of the House Ways and Means Education Committee or
15 his or her designee, the Chair of the Senate Finance and