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