§ 63-9J-4 — Coordination of state and local government broadband

efforts. A. The broadband office shall identify federal and nongovernmental broadband funding assistance opportunities for local governments, public educational institutions, state agencies and tribal governments and shall publish a list of those opportunities in a manner that can be searched on a county-by-county basis. B. The broadband office may be the applicant for such funding assistance for all state agencies except the department of transportation. C. State agencies and public educational institutions shall coordinate with the broadband office concerning the purchase of broadband infrastructure and services with the goal of obtaining best-value or bulk pricing agreements where practicable. D. The broadband office shall coordinate with and may enter into memoranda of understanding with federal, local government, state and tribal government agencies to create an integrated system of permits, licenses and rules for broadband infrastructure across all governmental jurisdictions within each region of the state, including the creation of a centralized repository, and an expedited review process for rights of way use applications, with the goal of creating uniform coordinated permitting and licensing requirements statewide. The broadband office shall develop proposals for government agencies at the local, county and state levels to build and pay for broadband networks, upon request for such assistance. E. The broadband office shall advise and make recommendations to the department regarding proposals to use the state-owned broadband network for the purpose of connecting unserved and underserved populations of the state to internet service on the basis of open access that supports objectives of the state broadband plan; provided that: (1) the department may lease a portion of the state-owned broadband network or provide internet service to a facilities-based provider that offers fixed wire broadband to end users in the state pursuant to the following conditions: (a) the lease or internet service agreement shall allow the deployment of internet service to an area in which at least fifty percent of the residential and business locations are underserved or unserved; (b) the broadband office shall post a notice on its website at least forty-five days prior to the execution of the lease or internet service agreement. The notice shall include: 1) the name of the facilities-based provider with which the department intends to enter into the lease or internet service agreement; 2) a statement describing the boundaries of the geographical area that will be served under the terms of the lease or internet service agreement; 3) the specifications of the broadband infrastructure or internet service that will be the subject of the lease or internet service agreement; and 4) the price upon which the lease or internet service agreement shall be offered by the department; (c) within the forty-five-day posting period required by Subparagraph (b) of this paragraph, no private facilities-based provider has notified the broadband office in writing that it can provide the same broadband infrastructure or internet service identified in the notice, as applicable, at a price that does not exceed one hundred ten percent of the price being offered by the department; and (d) if the lease exceeds ten years, the lease is first approved by the state board of finance; (2) the department may sell or otherwise transfer ownership of a portion of the state-owned broadband network pursuant to existing state law regarding the sale or disposition of such property; provided that the department and any successor in interest shall not transfer ownership of any portion of the state-owned broadband network to any wholly private entity for at least twenty years after construction of the broadband infrastructure to be sold was completed; (3) the department shall not sell or otherwise deliver internet service directly to a nongovernmental end user; and (4) the department shall adopt and implement rules to govern the lease or sale of state-owned broadband network capacity to the private sector. The rules shall include processes that will enable a facilities-based provider to challenge a determination that an area is eligible to receive state-owned broadband network capacity.

Legislative History

Laws 2021, ch. 123, § 4; 2023, ch. 132, § 9.