Substitute House Bill No. 6442
Public Act No. 21-159
AN ACT CONCERNING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO BROADBAND.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) As used in this section and
sections 2 to 8, inclusive, of this act:
(1) "Broadband Internet access service" means a mass-market retail
service by wire that provides the capability to transmit data to and
receive data from all or substantially all Internet endpoints, including
any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the
communications service, but excluding dial-up Internet access service;
(2) "Broadband Internet access service provider" means any person or
entity that provides broadband Internet access service through facilities
occupying public highways or streets authorized by the Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority, 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;
(3) "Digital equity" means a condition in which all individuals and
communities have the information technology capacity needed for
participation in society, democracy and the economy of the state; Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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(4) "Digital literacy" means the ability to use information and
communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate
information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills;
(5) "Distressed municipality" has the same meaning as provided in
section 32-9p of the general statutes;
(6) "Shapefile" means a digital storage format containing geospatial
or location-based data and attribute information (A) regarding the
availability of broadband Internet access service, and (B) that can be
viewed, edited, and mapped in geographic information system
software; and
(7) "Unserved area" means an area, not larger than a United States
census block, as determined in accordance with the most recent United
States census, identified on the broadband map developed pursuant to
section 2 of this act, where broadband Internet access service with
download speeds of at least twenty-five megabits per second and
upload speeds of at least three megabits per second is not available from
at least one broadband Internet access service provider.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Office of Policy and
Management shall, in accordance with sections 4d-90 and 4-67p of the
general statutes and in consultation with other state agencies deemed
appropriate by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management,
develop and maintain an up -to-date broadband map, with
accompanying data, showing the availability and adoption of
broadband Internet access service, including broadband Internet
download and upload speeds, in the state. The Office of Policy and
Management may rely on credible and relevant data, as determined by
the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, provided by
broadband Internet access service providers, state agencies, political
subdivisions of the state and other third parties, including, but not
limited to, broadband Internet access service consumers, in the Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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development and maintenance of said map. The Secretary of the Office
of Policy and Management may employ outside consultants in the
development and maintenance of said map.
(b) On or before December 1, 2022, and each year thereafter, the
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall publish said up-
to-date broadband map on the Office of Policy and Management's
Internet web site.
(c) (1) Each broadband Internet access service provider shall provide
the Office of Policy and Management, in a form and manner prescribed
by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, with
information required to develop and maintain an up-to-date broadband
map showing the availability of broadband Internet access service and
subscription data by broadband Internet speed offered by such
provider.
(A) Such information may be submitted in the form of a labeled
shapefile that shall include (i) for each address or structure in the state
at which service is available from the broadband Internet access service
provider, the maximum advertised downstream bandwidth, maximum
advertised upstream bandwidth and transmission technology, and (ii)
for each area served by the broadband Internet access service provider,
provided such area is not larger than a census block group, for each
combination of advertised downstream and upstream bandwidth of the
service as sold and transmission technology, the total number of
connections and total number of consumer connections.
(B) In prescribing the form and manner of the information submitted
pursuant to this subsection, the Secretary of the Office of Policy and
Management shall make reasonable efforts to conform with the
Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act,
47 USC 641 et seq., as amended from time to time, the Federal
Communications Commission rules adopted thereunder and the Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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Federal Communications Commission's Form 477 filing process.
(2) Any information provided by a broadband Internet access service
provider pursuant to this subsection shall be deemed a trade secret and
exempt from public disclosure pursuant to section 1-210 of the general
statutes. Pursuant to a data sharing agreement, the Office of Policy and
Management may provide such information to the Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection, the Office of State Broadband
and the Commission for Educational Technology for the purposes of
administering the grant program and preparing the reports required
under section 3 of this act, and shall not disclose such information to any
nongovernmental individual or entity, other than an outside consultant
employed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section or section 3 of this
act, except: (A) In an aggregated form necessary to develop and
maintain the map and data pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or
(B) with the permission of the broadband Internet access service
provider. Any contract or data-sharing agreement entered into by the
Office of Policy and Management with other governmental entities or
outside consultants shall include a confidentiality agreement
concerning the trade secret information obtained pursuant to this
subsection.
(d) Each state agency and political subdivision of the state shall
provide all information requested by the Office of Policy and
Management for the purpose of developing and maintaining an up-to-
date broadband map.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) On or before January 1, 2022,
the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall
establish and administer a grant program, subject to the availability of
federal funding, to support the deployment of broadband Internet
access service. The commissioner shall establish criteria consistent with
any requirement of federal law for the grants, including, but not limited
to, (1) application requirements, (2) applicant eligibility, (3) addressing Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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unserved areas in distressed municipalities, (4) broadband Internet
access service speed, and (5) an applicant's commitment to pay at least
twenty per cent of the costs for any project entered into pursuant to this
section with such applicant's own funding, provided such funding does
not derive from government grants, loans or subsidies to said applicant.
In awarding such grants, the commissioner may give priority to
applicants based on the percentage of said applicant's commitment to
cost sharing. The commissioner may deny applications from broadband
Internet access service providers that do not provide information to the
Office of Policy and Management pursuant to subsection (c) of section 2
of this act or to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
pursuant to subsection (b) of section 4 of this act. The commissioner may
employ outside consultants in developing and implementing said grant
program.
(b) On or before January 1, 2023, and every year thereafter for a
period of five years after receiving a grant pursuant to this section, the
recipient of such grant shall submit a report to the Commissioner of
Energy and Environmental Protection concerning the status of such
recipient's broadband Internet access service deployment and other
information deemed relevant by the commissioner.
(c) On or before December 1, 2022, and every two years thereafter, the
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, in consultation
with the Office of Policy and Management, the Office of State
Broadband, the Commission for Educational Technology and other state
agencies deemed appropriate by the Commissioner of Energy and
Environmental Protection, shall report to the Governor concerning (1)
the grants awarded pursuant to this section, (2) the status and progress
made toward a state-wide goal of attaining universal access to (A)
broadband Internet download speeds of one gigabit per second; and (B)
broadband Internet upload speeds of one hundred megabits per second,
and (3) broadband Internet access service adoption rates, the price and Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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nonprice barriers to broadband adoption and digital equity. Such report
shall include recommendations to overcome any such barriers,
including, but not limited to, addressing issues of digital literacy and
affordability.
Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Department of Energy
and Environmental Protection shall maintain, on the department's
Internet web site, a public listing of federal funding opportunities to
facilitate the deployment of broadband Internet access service in the
state.
(b) Not later than ninety days after each such opportunity is listed,
each broadband Internet access service provider shall notify the
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, in a form and
manner prescribed by the department, to the extent permittable under
applicable federal law, rules or guidelines, whether such provider
applied or intends to apply for such opportunity.
(1) If such provider applied or intends to apply for such opportunity,
such provider shall notify the Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection, in a form and manner prescribed by the department, of the
municipalities where broadband deployment would be facilitated. Each
broadband Internet access service provider that applies for such
funding shall, to the extent permittable under federal law, rules or
guidelines, provide the department with a copy of the application. Any
application provided by such provider pursuant to this subparagraph
shall be deemed a trade secret and exempt from public disclosure
pursuant to section 1-210 of the general statutes.
(2) If such provider did not apply or does not intend to apply for such
opportunity, such provider shall notify the Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection, in a form and manner prescribed by the
department, of the reasons for such determination to the extent
permittable under applicable federal law, rules or guidelines. Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) On or before January 1, 2022,
the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall initiate an uncontested
proceeding to develop a process for the construction of 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 Internet
access service providers. Upon application by the broadband Internet
access service providers for the construction of underground facilities
that will contain conduit for telecommunications service providers or
broadband Internet access service providers, the Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority shall condition any approval of such application
on the following:
(1) The size of such conduit shall be consistent with industry best
practices and sufficient to accommodate potential demand;
(2) Any handholes and manholes for fiber optic cable access and
pulling with respect to each such practice shall be placed at intervals
consistent with industry best practices;
(3) Such conduit shall be installed with a pull tape and capabilities of
supporting additional fiber optic cable;
(4) The applicant shall notify telecommunications service providers
and broadband Internet access service providers of the proposed
excavation to reduce the potential for future street excavations in the
same location;
(5) Any requesting telecommunications service provider or
broadband Internet access service provider shall be able to access such
conduit on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis and for
a charge not to exceed a cost-based rate;
(6) The applicant shall report to the authority upon completion of any
approved construction verifying that it has complied with the Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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provisions of this subsection; and
(7) Any other condition deemed prudent and reasonable by the
authority.
(b) For excavations in the state highway rights-of-way, the applicant
shall comply with the Department of Transportation's encroachment
permit process, including the payment of any applicable fees. Any
application for construction in the public highways, streets or other
public rights-of-way shall require the applicant to install a conduit for
the benefit of the Department of Transportation, as required by section
16-233 of the general statutes.
(c) The Commissioner of Transportation is authorized to lease space,
or enter into any other contract or agreement to permit access to such
space, in any conduit installed by the Department of Transportation in
the public highways, streets or other public rights-of-way on such terms
and conditions, and for any purpose, deemed to be in the public interest
by said commissioner.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the use of
conduit by the Department of Transportation on public highways,
streets or other public rights-of-way as otherwise permitted by law.
(e) All telecommunications service providers and broadband Internet
access service providers that are authorized by the authority to install
facilities in, under or over the public highways, streets or other public
rights-of-way shall obey, observe and comply with this section and each
applicable order made by the authority with respect to underground
conduit. Failure to comply with this section or applicable orders of the
authority may result in a civil penalty levied by the authority in
accordance with section 16-41 of the general statutes. Any such fines
shall not be recoverable costs in any rate proceeding conducted by the
authority. Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) Each broadband Internet access
service provider shall have the same right of access to an occupied
building, as defined in section 16-247l of the general statutes, as afforded
to certified telecommunications service providers under section 16-247l
of the general statutes.
Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) The State Building Inspector and
the Codes and Standards Committee shall, in accordance with section
29-252b of the general statutes, revise the State Building Code to include
provisions requiring buildings that qualify as a new construction or a
major alteration of a commercial or multifamily building to include a
minimum infrastructure requirement to support broadband Internet
access service. The State Building Inspector and the Codes and
Standards Committee shall define such minimum infrastructure
requirements in such revisions.
Sec. 8. Section 16-49 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021):
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Company" means (A) any public service company other than a
telephone company, that had more than one hundred thousand dollars
of gross revenues in the state in the calendar year preceding the
assessment year under this section, except any such company not
providing service to retail customers in the state, (B) any telephone
company that had more than one hundred thousand dollars of gross
revenues in the state from telecommunications services in the calendar
year preceding the assessment year under this section, except any such
company not providing service to retail customers in the state, (C) any
certified telecommunications provider that had more than one hundred
thousand dollars of gross revenues in the state from
telecommunications services in the calendar year preceding the
assessment year under this section, except any such certified Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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telecommunications provider not providing service to retail customers
in the state, (D) any electric supplier that had more than one hundred
thousand dollars of gross revenues in the state in the calendar year
preceding the assessment year under this section, except any such
supplier not providing electric generation services to retail customers in
the state, or (E) any certified competitive video service provider issued
a certificate of video franchise authority by the Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority in accordance with section 16-331e that had more
than one hundred thousand dollars of gross revenues in the state in the
calendar year preceding the assessment year under this section, except
any such certified competitive video service provider not providing
service to retail customers in the state;
(2) "Telecommunications services" means (A) in the case of
telecommunications services provided by a telephone company, any
service provided pursuant to a tariff approved by the authority other
than wholesale services and resold access and interconnections services,
and (B) in the case of telecommunications services provided by a
certified telecommunications provider other than a telephone company,
any service provided pursuant to a tariff approved by the authority and
pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity; and
(3) "Fiscal year" means the period beginning July first and ending
June thirtieth.
(b) On or before July 15, 1999, and on or before May first, annually
thereafter, each company shall report its intrastate gross revenues of the
preceding calendar year to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority,
which amount shall be subject to audit by the authority. For each fiscal
year, each company shall pay the authority the company's share of all
expenses of the department's Bureau of Energy and Technology, the
Office of Consumer Counsel, the Office of Policy and Management's
expenses related to the duties under sections 2 and 3 of this act and the
operations of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for such fiscal Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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year. On or before September first, annually, the authority shall give to
each company a statement which shall include: (1) The amount
appropriated to the department's Bureau of Energy and Technology, the
Office of Consumer Counsel, the Office of Policy and Management's
expenses related to the duties under sections 2 and 3 of this act and the
operations of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for the fiscal year
beginning July first of the same year; (2) the total gross revenues of all
companies; and (3) the proposed assessment against the company for
the fiscal year beginning on July first of the same year, adjusted to reflect
the estimated payment required under subdivision (1) of subsection (c)
of this section. Such proposed assessment shall be calculated by
multiplying the company's percentage share of the total gross revenues
as specified in subdivision (2) of this subsection by the total revenue
appropriated to the department's Bureau of Energy and Technology, the
Office of Consumer Counsel, the Office of Policy and Management's
expenses related to the duties under sections 2 and 3 of this act and the
operations of the Public Utility Regulatory Authority, as specified in
subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(c) Each company shall pay the authority: (1) On or before June
thirtieth, annually, an estimated payment for the expenses of the
following year equal to twenty-five per cent of its assessment for the
fiscal year ending on such June thirtieth, (2) on or before September
thirtieth, annually, twenty-five per cent of its proposed assessment,
adjusted to reflect any credit or amount due under the recalculated
assessment for the preceding fiscal year, as determined by the authority
under subsection (d) of this section, provided if the company files an
objection in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, it may
withhold the amount stated in its objection, and (3) on or before the
following December thirty-first and March thirty-first, annually, the
remaining fifty per cent of its proposed assessment in two equal
installments. Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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(d) Immediately following the close of each fiscal year, the authority
shall recalculate the proposed assessment of each company, based on
the expenses, as determined by the Comptroller, of the department's
Bureau of Energy and Technology, the Office of Consumer Counsel, the
Office of Policy and Management's expenses related to the duties under
sections 2 and 3 of this act and the operations of the Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority for such fiscal year. On or before September first,
annually, the authority shall give to each company a statement showing
the difference between its recalculated assessment and the amount
previously paid by the company.
(e) Any company may object to a proposed or recalcul ated
assessment by filing with the authority, not later than September
fifteenth of the year of said assessment, a petition stating the amount of
the proposed or recalculated assessment to which it objects and the
grounds upon which it claims such assessment is excessive, erroneous,
unlawful or invalid. After a company has filed a petition, the authority
shall hold a hearing. After reviewing the company's petition and
testimony, if any, the authority shall issue an order in accordance with
its findings. The company shall pay the authority the amount indicated
in the order not later than thirty days after the date of the order.
(f) The authority shall remit all payments received under this section
to the State Treasurer for deposit in the Consumer Counsel and Public
Utility Control Fund established under section 16-48a. Such funds shall
be accounted for as expenses recovered from public service companies
and certified telecommunications providers. All payments made under
this section shall be in addition to any taxes payable to the state under
chapters 211, 212, 212a and 219.
(g) Any assessment unpaid on the due date or any portion of an
assessment withheld after the due date under subsection (c) of this
section shall be subject to interest at the rate of one and one-fourth per
cent per month or fraction thereof, or fifty dollars, whichever is greater. Substitute House Bill No. 6442
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(h) Any company that fails to report in accordance with this section
shall be subject to civil penalties in accordance with section 16-41.