OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-6442
AN ACT CONCERNING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO BROADBAND.
As Amended by House "A" (LCO 9750)
House Calendar No.: 216
Senate Calendar No.: 550
Primary Analyst: AN 6/4/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Policy & Mgmt., Off. CC&PUCF - Cost 469,399 381,452
Policy & Mgmt., Off. CC&PUCF -
Revenue Gain
469,399 381,452
Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection
FF - Cost See Below See Below
Note: CC&PUCF=Consumer Counsel and Public Utility Control Fund; FF=Federal Funds
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill as amended establishes a grant program administered by
the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) for
the purpose of broadband deployment and requires the Office of
Policy and Management (OPM) to develop statewide broadband
mapping.
The bill results in a cost to OPM of $469,399 in FY 22 and $381,452 in
FY 23 to hire consultants to assist with the development of the
statewide broadband maps. The bill also results in a corresponding
revenue gain to the Consumer Counsel and Public Utility Control
(PUC) Fund by increasing existing assessments on public service
companies to cover associated costs.
The grant program established is subject to the availability of 2021HB-06442-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
federal funding and is therefore not anticipated to result in a cost to the
General Fund or the PUC fund in FY 22 or FY 23. It is anticipated that
DEEP will need to hire 3 staff members for the purpose of program
development and grant administration at a cost of $506,500 in FY 22
and $521,700 in FY 23 to be funded by federal sources.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides state
funding specifically for the development of broadband infrastructure.
Presumably, any such ARPA funding designated by the legislature
would be used to fund administrative costs and grants provided to
applicants of the program.
The bill also requires the State Building Inspector to revise the State
Building Code. This provision does not result in a fiscal impact.
House "A" struck the underlying bill and results in the fiscal impact
described above.
The Out Years
There is no anticipated cost in the outyears resulting from the bill, as
developing broadband mapping is anticipated to be a one-time cost.
Furthermore, ARPA funding is currently set to expire in FY 24. As the
grant program is subject to available federal funding, the bill does not
contemplate any costs borne by the State after such expiration.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly,
solely for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the
General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety
of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.