BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1549|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1549
Author: Wood (D)
Amended: 6/30/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 10-0, 6/14/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 1/27/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Department of Transportation: state highway
rights-of-way: fiber optic cables
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to maintain an inventory of broadband conduit that it
owns, collaborate with broadband companies during construction
projects, and install broadband conduit in its construction
projects for potential use by broadband companies.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Creates the California Broadband Task Force, as set forth in a
2006 Governor's Executive Order (S-23-06), to facilitate
widespread deployment of state-of-the-art telecommunications
technology. The Executive Order specifically requires, in
part:
a) The Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency (BTH)
to establish a database of current and prospective projects
for deploying broadband. The database is to be available
for use by broadband providers, state entities, and
municipalities.
b) State agencies to place broadband conduit in their
infrastructure projects for use by multiple government
entities and broadband providers.
c) State agencies to expedite permitting for broadband
providers' requests for access to rights-of-way.
2)Authorizes, generally, Caltrans to lease to public agencies or
private entities the use of areas above or below state
highways, subject to any reservations, restrictions, and
conditions that the department deems necessary to ensure
adequate protection of the safety and the adequacy of highway
facilities.
3)Establishes the California Broadband Council to promote
broadband deployment throughout the state and, to that end,
improve coordination among state agencies.
This bill:
1)Requires Caltrans to maintain an inventory of all broadband
conduit that it owns, is located within the state highway
rights-of-way, and is installed on or after January 1, 2017.
Such inventory shall be made available upon request to
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companies or organizations working on broadband deployment.
2)Requires Caltrans, when designing construction projects, to
notify the companies or organizations of those projects to
encourage collaborative broadband installations. If no
company or organization chooses to collaborate and no
broadband conduit previously exists, Caltrans shall install an
empty conduit for potential use by others.
Comments
1)Purpose. The United States compares poorly to other nations
in the speed, quality, and cost of broadband service.
[Federal Communications Commission: International Broadband
Data Report, August 13, 2012] California is no different.
That's largely because public policy is caught in the middle.
It has not supported a single regulated broadband provider who
would benefit from the economies of scope and scale, as is the
case in other countries. And the competition that public
policy has encouraged has been too weak to result in
high-quality, high-speed service at reasonable rates. This
problem is of course worse in rural areas where potential
customers are much less densely located than in urban and
suburban areas.
2)Not for lack of effort. Inadequate and costly broadband
service has been a longstanding problem for which California
has implemented many potential solutions. One of the most
significant efforts resulted from a 2006 Executive Order from
Governor Schwarzenegger. That order required the then-BTH to
encourage public/private broadband partnerships, required all
state agencies to place broadband conduit in their
infrastructure projects if there is sufficient demand, and
created the California Broadband Task Force.
The Task Force recommended that:
a) High-speed broadband infrastructure be built out to all
Californians.
b) Model permitting standards be developed and
collaboration among broadband providers be encouraged.
c) Use and adoption of broadband and computer technology be
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increased.
This bill redoubles the broadband build out effort. The
fundamental assumption in the bill is that landline broadband
infrastructure deployment can be done more quickly and
inexpensively when done in conjunction with Caltrans
construction projects. This may well be true, and was one of
the bases for the 2006 Executive Order.
As a result of the 2006 Executive Order, Caltrans created a
program to notify telecommunications providers of projects in
which they could install their fiber optic facilities during
the Caltrans construction process. No provider participated
in any projects and consequently Caltrans decided to
discontinue the program in 2014. That program was limited to
telecommunications companies licensed by the California Public
Utilities Commission. Caltrans has an existing program for
collaboration with companies that want to use their facilities
for wireless broadband purposes. This bill deals with
wireline broadband.
1)What's available? The bill requires Caltrans to maintain an
inventory of broadband conduit owned by the department in a
centralized database. The purpose of the inventory is to
facilitate usage of Caltrans facilities by potential partners.
2)When? This bill calls for Caltrans to notify broadband
companies during the design phase of construction projects
that run parallel to the highway. The idea is that freeways
provide convenient, and sometimes the only, physical
connection between population centers, so as Caltrans is
fixing the road between city A and city B, other companies and
organizations should be permitted to install their conduit and
fiber optic cables in the trench for a fee, thereby sharing
costs. If no company chooses to participate, then Caltrans
shall install an empty conduit which would be available to
others.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Estimated one-time Caltrans information technology (IT) costs
of approximately $915,000 for software, hardware, and staffing
to support the database and Web site components, as well as
meeting all Department of Technology requirements for IT
project approvals. (State Highway Account)
Additional one-time Caltrans IT costs of approximately
$310,000 to implement additional security measures to secure
and encrypt information regarding fiber-optic facility
installations, and $27,500 in ongoing IT maintenance costs.
There could be unknown additional staffing impacts for
evaluation and monitoring of security measures. (State
Highway Account)
Unknown, major project cost increases, likely in the millions
annually, for Caltrans to install broadband conduits on
specified projects where there are no existing conduits in a
project area and no broadband deployment companies or
organizations offer collaboration. (State Highway Account or
federal/local/bond funds)
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/12/16)
California Association of Competitive Telecommunications
Companies
California Center for Rural Policy
Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Placer County Board of Supervisors
Praxis Associates
Redwood Region Economic Development Commission
Rural County Representatives of California
Tellus Venture Associates
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 1/27/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez,
Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mathis
Prepared by:Randy Chinn / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/15/16 20:17:17
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