Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H95 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3126 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 95
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	David Allen Robertson
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act relative to assuring a jumpstart in investments in telecoms to preserve access to the
13	13	internet.
14	14	_______________
15	15	PETITION OF:
16	16	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:David Allen Robertson19th Middlesex1/16/2025 1 of 4
17	17	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3126 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
18	18	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 95
19	19	By Representative Robertson of Tewksbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 95) of
20	20	David Allen Robertson relative to the awarding of money to municipal agencies for the purpose
21	21	of expanding, founding, advertising or maintaining of publicly-administered broadband internet
22	22	service providers. Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity.
23	23	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
24	24	SEE HOUSE, NO. 78 OF 2023-2024.]
25	25	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
26	26	_______________
27	27	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
28	28	(2025-2026)
29	29	_______________
30	30	An Act relative to assuring a jumpstart in investments in telecoms to preserve access to the
31	31	internet.
32	32	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
33	33	of the same, as follows:
34	34	1 SECTION 1. Chapter 10 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition,
35	35	2is hereby amended by inserting after section 35PPP, as added by chapter 227 of the acts of 2020,
36	36	3the following section:-
37	37	4 Section 35QQQ. (a) There shall be established upon the books of the commonwealth a
38	38	5separate fund to be known as the Municipal Broadband Development Fund, which shall be
39	39	6subject to further appropriation. The fund shall be expended for the purposes set forth in section
40	40	710 of chapter 25C. 2 of 4
41	41	8 (b) The state treasurer may receive and expend monies received from: (1) state
42	42	9appropriations; (2) gifts, grants and donations from public or private sources; (3) appropriate
43	43	10federal reimbursements, grants-in-aid or other monies credited or transferred from any other fund
44	44	11or source pursuant to law; and (4) any interest earned from the Municipal Broadband
45	45	12Development Fund. Such funds shall be impressed with a trust and held for the purposes of said
46	46	13section 10 in the Municipal Broadband Development Fund. The treasurer may receive, deposit
47	47	14and invest funds held for the purposes of said section 10 in a manner that will ensure the highest
48	48	15interest rate available consistent with the safety of the Municipal Broadband Development Fund.
49	49	16 SECTION 2. Chapter 25C of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
50	50	17adding the following 2 sections:-
51	51	18 Section 9. (a) The following words as used in this section and in section 10 shall, unless
52	52	19the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:
53	53	20 “Broadband internet service provider” or “BISP”, a mass-market retail service by wire or
54	54	21fiberoptic cable that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or
55	55	22substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the
56	56	23operation of the communications service, but excluding dial-up internet access service or
57	57	24cellular, satellite or radio provided internet service; or set forth by the Federal Communications
58	58	25Commission or the department as a future equivalent of the provided service.
59	59	26 “Data Cap”, throttling, limiting, severance or purposeful interference of a data connection
60	60	27or transfer rate based on cumulative overall usage, the download or upload of data cumulative
61	61	28totals, or like measures over a defined time frame by an end-user subscriber of a BISP.
62	62	29 “End-User”, any subscriber of a broadband internet service provider. 3 of 4
63	63	30 “Municipal agency'', any department or office of a city or town government and any
64	64	31council, division, board, bureau, commission, institution, tribunal or other instrumentality thereof
65	65	32or thereunder.
66	66	33 “Net Neutral”, a BISP who does not partake in paid prioritization or data caps while
67	67	34maintaining open access for all end-users.
68	68	35 “Open Access”, freedom of an end-user to access any legally hosted and legal-to-view
69	69	36web-content, unless prohibited by law without additional cost or effort or reduction in internet
70	70	37access speed from a BISP.
71	71	38 “Paid prioritization”, the management of a broadband provider's network to directly or
72	72	39indirectly expedite or slow access by end-users of a BISP to any legally hosted and legal-to-view
73	73	40web-content, unless prohibited by law.
74	74	41 “Surcharge”, an additional fee, increased rate, or like instrument of financial burden on
75	75	42an end-user of a broadband internet service provider not charged on a recurring basis as part of
76	76	43providing service.
77	77	44 (b) The department shall create a net neutrality seal and certification review process as
78	78	45provided for in this subsection.
79	79	46 A BISP shall be deemed in compliance of a net neutral policy when a BISP does not
80	80	47participate in the practice of paid prioritization, ensures open access and is free of data caps or
81	81	48similar pricing surcharges based on internet usage by all end-users.
82	82	49 (c) A state agency, municipality, body politic or constitutional branch of the
83	83	50commonwealth shall not renew any contracts for telephone, broadband or other internet services 4 of 4
84	84	51between the commonwealth and a BISP not compliant with net neutrality certification as
85	85	52provided for in subsection (b).
86	86	53 (d) The state treasurer, in conjunction with the department, shall levy and collect a surtax
87	87	54of not less than 50 per cent on any surcharge by a BISP to be deposited in the Municipal
88	88	55Broadband Development Fund established by section 35QQQ of chapter 10.
89	89	56 Section 10. (a) The department shall, in cooperation with the state treasurer or their
90	90	57appointee, develop a competitive bidding procedure for the awarding of money to a municipal
91	91	58agency for the purpose of expanding, founding, advertising or maintenance of a publicly-
92	92	59administered BISP provided the BISP adheres to net neutrality standards.
93	93	60 (b) Any recipient of monies from the Municipal Broadband Development Fund,
94	94	61established by section 35QQQ of chapter 10, found to be in violation of the provisions of net
95	95	62neutrality as provided for in section 9 shall repay any sum awarded plus 5 per cent of the
96	96	63awarded total to the Municipal Broadband Trust Fund.