Bill Summary for H 398 (2019-2020)

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Summary date: 

Mar 19 2019

Bill Information:

View NCGA Bill Details2019-2020 Session
House Bill 398 (Public) Filed Tuesday, March 19, 2019
AN ACT, CONSISTENT WITH HOUSE BILL 966, 2019 REGULAR SESSION, TO MAKE APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS.
Intro. by Arp, Szoka, Saine, Barnes.

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Bill summary

Amends GS 143B-1373 by adding an appropriation each fiscal year of $15 million from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund to the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology Fund for administering the GREAT program (Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology program). Expires on June 30, 2029.

Amends GS 143B-1373 concerning the GREAT program, as follows. Amends the definition of an eligible project to specify that if a project area is within more than one county, the project is deemed to be located in the county where the greatest number of unserved households will be served. Current law provides that project areas comprised of census blocks, or portions thereof, within which a broadband provider is receiving State or federal matching funds to deploy technologically neutral scalable broadband service within the next 18 months are ineligible for the GREAT program. Adds that upon the expiration of the 18-month period a private provider receiving state or federal matching funds to deploy broadband service must submit written documentation that the deployment has begun or been completed in the census blocks, or portions thereof, that have been deemed ineligible due to the existence of a federally funded project area. Amends the grant application requirements to require submitting any publicly available addresses for any homes, businesses, community anchor points, agricultural operations, or agricultural processing facilities that will have broadband access as a result of the project. Specifies that a wireless provider submitting an application  bears that burden of proof that the proposed service area can in fact be served using wireless technology; sets out ways the burden may be satisfied. Adds that upon submission of satisfactory evidence that the proposed project area includes households with a minimum upload and download speed of 10:1, the Broadband Infrastructure Office may amend an application to reduce the number of unserved households in the project area to reflect an accurate level of current service. Amends the base speed multiplier used when scoring project applications by adding in a multiplier for minimum download:minimum upload ratios of 100:10 Mbps. or greater.

Makes conforming changes to the Use of funds in the State Capital and Infrastructure Funds in GS 143C-4-3.1.