One California bill that proposes funding broadband adoption...
One California bill that proposes funding broadband adoption and access for low-income individuals would be good with certain amendments, said California Public Utilities Commission staff in a memo slated for a commission meeting Thursday (http://bit.ly/16OPaCi). The memo discussed Assembly Bill…
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1299, in the Appropriations Committee, which would move as much as $20 million from the California Advanced Services Fund Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account to support connecting public housing to broadband networks and shifting $5 million over to adoption programs for such housing. The bill would add to the CPUC’s workload, staff said, creating the need for additional positions amounting to just under $150,000 in annual commission costs. “The CPUC would have to promulgate rules and regulations for program implementation and allocation of the funds to the targeted housing communities, possibly including a public process to design the program,” the memo said. “Once these rules and regulations are in place, the CPUC can then accept applications from eligible entities.” But the bill would create broader, difficult-to-quantify benefits for the roughly 300,000 publicly subsidized housing units in the state, it said. CPUC staff said they support the bill if it clarifies the use of the phrase housing units, its reference to federal poverty guidelines that may not fit with state ones, the level of broadband service that would warrant using the funds and verification that the owners of the housing units in question haven’t denied right of access.