O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 21-159—sHB 6442
Energy and Technology Committee
Appropriations Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING EQ UITABLE ACCESS TO BR OADBAND
SUMMARY: This act contains various provisions related to broadband internet
access service (referred to as “broadband service” below) and broadband internet
access service providers (“broadband providers”). Among other things, it:
1. requires the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to develop and
maintain an up-to-date broadband map with data showing the availability
and adoption of broadband service (§ 2);
2. requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)
commissioner to establish and administer a grant program to support
broadband service deployment, subject to federal funding availability (§
3);
3. expands the uses of the annual assessment companies pay to the Public
Utility Control Fund (see BACKGROUND) to also cover OPM’s
expenses related to developing the broadband map and participating in the
grant program (§ 8);
4. requires (a) DEEP to maintain a public listing of federal funding
opportunities to facilitate deploying broadband service and (b) broadband
providers to notify DEEP about their decisions to apply for the funding (§
4);
5. requires the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to impose
requirements on broadband providers when they apply to build certain
underground facilities (e.g., notifying other providers about the proposed
excavation to reduce future excavations in the same location) (§ 5);
6. gives broadband providers the same right of access to occupied buildings
that existing law provides to telecommunications service providers (§ 6);
and
7. requires the State Building Code to include a minimum infrastructure
requirement to support broadband service for new construction or major
alterations of a commercial or multi-family building (§ 7).
Under the act, “broadband internet access service” is a wired, mass-market
retail service that provides the capability to transmit data to, and receive data
from, all or substantially all internet endpoints, including capabilities that are
incidental to and enable the service’s operation, but not dial-up internet access
service. A “broadband internet access service provider” is an entity that provides
broadband internet access service through facilities occupying public highways or
streets authorized by PURA, including through a certificate of public convenience
and necessity, a certificate of video franchise authority, a certificate of cable
franchise authority, or as a certified telecommunications provider (see O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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BACKGROUND).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2021
§ 2 — BROADBAND MAPPING
The act requires OPM, in consultation with other state agencies that the OPM
secretary deems appropriate, to develop and maintain an up-to-date broadband
map with accompanying data showing the availability and adoption of broadband
service, including upload and download speeds, in the state. OPM must do this in
accordance with the state laws on geospatial information systems and the state
data plan.
To develop and maintain the map, OPM may rely on credible and relevant
data, as the secretary determines, provided by broadband providers, state
agencies, political subdivisions (e.g., municipalities), and other third parties, such
as broadband service consumers. The secretary may also employ outside
consultants to develop and maintain it.
The act requires (1) each state agency and political subdivision to provide all
information requested by OPM to develop and maintain the map and (2) OPM to
begin annually publishing the map on its website by December 1, 2022.
Provider Information
The act requires each broadband provider to provide OPM with information
required to develop and maintain the broadband map showing broadband service
availability and subscription data by broadband internet speed offered by the
provider.
The information must include the maximum advertised downstream and
upstream bandwidths and the transmission technology for each address or
structure in the state at which service is available from the provider. For each area
the provider serves, as long as it is not larger than a census block group, the
information must also include the total number of connections and consumer
connections for each combination of advertised downstream and upstream
bandwidths of the service as sold and transmission technology.
The act requires the OPM secretary to prescribe the form and manner for
providing the information. It explicitly allows the information to be submitted as a
labeled shapefile, which is a digital storage format with geospatial or location-
based data and attribute information (1) on broadband service availability and (2)
that can be viewed, edited, and mapped in geographic information system
software.
The act also requires the secretary, when prescribing the form and manner for
providing the information, to make reasonable efforts to conform with the (1)
federal Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (47
USC § 641 et seq.), (2) Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rules
adopted under that act, and (3) FCC’s Form 477 filing process.
Confidentiality
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Under the act, the information provided by the broadband providers must be
deemed a trade secret and exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). OPM may provide the information, under a data sharing
agreement, to DEEP, the Office of State Broadband, and the Commission for
Educational Technology for administering the grant program (see § 3 below), but
it may not disclose it to a non-governmental individual or entity other than an
outside consultant employed as allowed under the act. Any contract or data-
sharing agreement that OPM enters into with other governmental entities or
outside consultants must include a confidentiality agreement about the trade secret
information.
The information may also be disclosed (1) in an aggregated form needed to
develop and maintain OPM’s broadband map and data described above or (2)
with the broadband provider’s permission.
§ 3 — BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT GRANT PROGRAM
The act requires the DEEP commissioner, by January 1, 2022, to establish and
administer a grant program, subject to the availability of federal funding, to
support the deployment of broadband service. It allows the commissioner to
employ outside consultants to develop and implement the program.
Criteria for Awarding Grants
The commissioner must establish criteria for the grants consistent with any
federal requirements for them. They must at least include criteria for: (1)
application requirements; (2) applicant eligibility; (3) addressing unserved areas
in distressed municipalities; (4) broadband service speed; and (5) an applicant’s
commitment to pay at least 20% of the costs for a grant-eligible project with the
applicant’s own funding, as long as it does not derive from government grants,
loans, or subsidies.
By law, the Department of Economic and Community Development
commissioner annually designates the state’s distressed municipalities based on a
combination of economic, education, demographic, and housing criteria (CGS §
32-9p). An “unserved area” under the act is an area (1) that is no larger than a
U.S. census block, as determined in the most recent census, and (2) where no
broadband provider offers broadband service with download speeds of at least 25
megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of at least three Mbps, as
identified on OPM’s broadband map.
The act allows the commissioner, when awarding the grants, to prioritize
applicants based on the percentage of their commitment to cost sharing. It also
allows her to deny applications from broadband providers that do not provide
information to OPM and DEEP as required by the act (see § 2 above and § 4
below).
Reports
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Starting by January 1, 2023, and annually for five years after receiving a
grant, the act requires a grant recipient to submit a report to the commissioner on
the status of its broadband service deployment and other information the
commissioner deems relevant.
The act also requires DEEP, starting by December 1, 2022, to biennially
report to the governor on (1) the broadband deployment grants awarded; (2) the
status and progress made towards a statewide goal of attaining universal access to
broadband download speeds of one gigabit per second and broadband upload
speeds of 100 Mbps; and (3) broadband service adoption rates, price and non-
price barriers to broadband adoption, and digital equity. The report must also
include recommendations to overcome the barriers and at least address digital
literacy and affordability.
DEEP must prepare the report in consultation with OPM, the Office of State
Broadband, the Commission for Educational Technology, and other state agencies
the DEEP commissioner deems appropriate.
Under the act, “digital equity” is a condition in which everyone has the
information technology capacity needed to participate in society, democracy, and
the state’s economy. “Digital literacy” is the ability to use information and
communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate
information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.
§ 4 — FEDERAL FUNDING OPPO RTUNITIES
The act requires DEEP to maintain on its website a public listing of federal
funding opportunities to facilitate deploying broadband service in the state. Then,
within 90 days after the listing of an opportunity, each broadband provider must
notify DEEP whether it applied or intends to apply for the opportunity. The
notification must be in a form and manner DEEP prescribes and to the extent
allowed under applicable federal law, rules, or guidelines.
If the provider applied or intends to apply, the act also requires it to notify
DEEP, in a form and manner that DEEP prescribes, about the municipalities
where broadband deployment would be facilitated. Each applying provider must
also give DEEP a copy of the application to the extent allowed by federal law,
rules, or guidelines. The act deems these applications a trade secret and exempt
from public disclosure under FOIA.
If the provider did not apply or does not intend to do so, it must notify DEEP
about the reasons why, to the extent allowed under applicable federal law, rules,
or guidelines, in a form and manner that DEEP prescribes.
§ 5 — UNDERGROUND CONDUIT
The act requires PURA, by January 1, 2022, to initiate an uncontested
proceeding to develop a process for constructing facilities in the public highways,
streets, or other public rights-of-way to ensure timely and nondiscriminatory
procedures that accomplish conduit excavations for telecommunications service
providers and broadband providers. O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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It also requires PURA to impose certain requirements on broadband providers
when they apply to build underground facilities that will contain conduit for
telecommunications service providers or broadband providers. (Presumably, this
must occur as part of the process PURA develops.) PURA must condition its
approval on applicants meeting the following requirements:
1. the conduit’s size must be consistent with industry best practices and
sufficient to accommodate potential demand;
2. handholes and manholes for fiber optic cable access and pulling,
respectively, must be placed at intervals consistent with industry best
practices;
3. the conduit must be installed with a pull tape and capable of supporting
additional fiber optic cable;
4. the applicant must notify telecommunications service providers and
broadband providers about the proposed excavation to reduce the potential
for future street excavations in the same location;
5. a telecommunications service provider or broadband provider, upon
request, must be able to access the conduit on a competitively neutral and
nondiscriminatory basis, and for a charge that does not exceed a cost-
based rate;
6. the applicant must report to PURA upon completion to verify that it
complied with the above requirements; and
7. any other condition PURA deems prudent and reasonable.
Excavations in State Highway Rights-of-Way
For excavations in state highway rights-of-way, the act requires the applicant
to comply with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) encroachment permit
process, including paying applicable fees. Under the act, an application for
construction in the public highways, streets, or other public rights-of-way must
require the applicant to install a conduit for DOT’s benefit, as required by law.
The act authorizes the DOT commissioner to lease space or enter into a
contract or agreement to permit access to the space in any DOT-installed conduit
in public highways, streets, or other public rights-of-way. The lease or contract
may be on the terms and conditions, and for any purpose, that the commissioner
deems in the public interest. The act specifies that it does not limit DOT’s use of
conduit on public highways, streets, or other public rights-of-way as otherwise
permitted by law.
Provision Coverage & Penalties
Under the act, all telecommunications service providers and broadband
providers that PURA authorizes to install facilities in, under, or over public
highways, streets, or other public rights-of-way must obey, observe, and comply
with these provisions on underground conduits and PURA’s applicable orders
about them. Failure to do so may result in a civil penalty levied by PURA as
allowed under existing law (i.e., a fine, restitution, or a combination of both of up O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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to $10,000 per offense unless otherwise specified in statute (CGS § 16-41)).
Under the act, these fines cannot be recovered in any rate proceeding PURA
conducts.
§ 6 — ACCESS TO OCCUPIED BUILDINGS
The act gives each broadband provider the same right of access to an
“occupied building” that the law provides to telecommunications service
providers. In effect this requires, among other things, an occupied building’s
owner to allow wiring to provide broadband service in the building if (1) a tenant
requests services from the broadband provider; (2) the entire cost of the wiring is
assumed by the provider; and (3) the provider indemnifies and holds the owner
harmless for any damage the wiring causes.
By law, an “occupied building” is a building or a part of one that is rented,
leased, hired out, arranged, or designed to be occupied, or is occupied (1) as the
home or residence of at least three families living independently of each other; (2)
as the place of business of at least three businesses conducting business
independently of each other; or (3) by any combination of at least three
independent families and businesses. It includes trailer or manufactured home
parks, nursing homes, hospitals, and condominium associations (CGS § 16-247l).
§ 7 — STATE BUILDING CODE
The act requires the state building inspector and the Codes and Standards
Committee to revise the State Building Code so that it requires buildings that
qualify as a new construction or a major alteration of a commercial or multi-
family building to have a minimum infrastructure requirement to support
broadband service. The inspector and committee must define these requirements
in the revisions. (The act does not establish a deadline for this revision.)
BACKGROUND
Public Utility Control Fund
By law, the administrative costs of PURA, the Office of Consumer Counsel
(OCC), and DEEP’s Bureau of Energy and Technology are funded through
assessments on public service companies, telephone companies, certified
telecommunications providers, retail electric suppliers, and certified competitive
video service providers with more than $100,000 in gross revenues in the state in
the preceding calendar year. PURA annually assesses each company for its share
of expenses for OCC, DEEP’s energy bureau, and PURA (CGS § 16-49).
Certified Competitive Video Service Provider
By law, a certified competitive video service provider is an entity providing
video service under a PURA-issued certificate of video franchise authority (e.g., O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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AT&T’s U-Verse service) (CGS § 16-1(a)(41)). A certificate of video franchise
authority grants the right to own, lease, maintain, operate, manage, or control
facilities in, under, or over any public highway to offer video service to
subscribers in the state (CGS § 16-1(a)(42)).
Certificate of Cable Franchise Authority
A certificate of cable franchise authority is a PURA authorization giving a
cable-TV company the right to own, lease, maintain, operate, manage or control a
cable-TV system in, under, or over any public highway to (a) offer cable-TV
service in its designated franchise area or (b) use the public rights-of-way to offer
video service in a designated franchise area (CGS § 16-1(a)(43)).
Certified Telecommunications Provider
By law, a certified telecommunications provider is an entity certified by
PURA to provide intrastate telecommunications services (CGS § 16-1(a)(32)).