BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1549
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Date of Hearing: January 21, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1549 (Wood) - As Amended January 13, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires Caltrans to maintain an inventory of its
conduits installed after January 1, 2017 that house fiber-optic
communications and are located on state highway rights-of-way.
The department is to make this information available upon
requests from entities working on broadband deployment.
FISCAL EFFECT:
AB 1549
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Minor one-time special fund cost (less than $100,000) to
establish the database, and minor ongoing cost to update and
maintain the database and to respond to requests from entities
deploying broadband.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. According to the author's office, the state lacks a
central database of publicly and privately owned network assets,
such as fiber-optic lines, broadband conduits, or utility poles,
which creates unnecessary hurdles for increasing the deployment
of high-quality advance communication services. Streets and
highways may have to be excavated when broadband company expands
coverage by laying down high-speed Internet cables, which can
add to closed roads and traffic congestion. The author asserts
that a central database of broadband conduits would allow a
broadband company to weight the option of using existing
resources, such as an existing conduit or joint trenching with
another provider, in lieu of excavating the road unnecessarily.
As recently amended, the bill was narrowed to require Caltrans
to create the inventory only for conduits housing fiber-optic
communication cables installed after January 1, 2017.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1549
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