BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1549
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1549 (Wood)
As Amended June 30, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(January 27, |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 17, |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY: After January 1, 2017, requires the California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to maintain a
centralized inventory of all department-owned broadband conduits
within state highway rights-of-way that house fiber-optic cables
and to make the information available to the public upon
request; under certain conditions, requires Caltrans to take
other steps to facilitate broadband deployment.
The Senate amendments:
1)Require Caltrans, under certain conditions, to notify
companies or organizations, as defined, of anticipated
construction projects for the purpose of encouraging
collaborative broadband installations.
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2)Authorize companies or organizations to collaborate with the
department to install broadband conduit as part of a project.
3)Require Caltrans, if no company or organization collaborates
with the department and if no broadband conduit previously
exists in the project area, to install broadband conduit
capable of supporting fiber optic communication cables as part
of the project.
4)Specifically provide that Caltrans is not required to report
on cables.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Estimated one-time Caltrans information technology (IT) costs
of approximately $915,000 for software, hardware, and staffing
to support the database and website components, as well as
meeting all Department of Technology requirements for IT
project approvals.
2)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.
3)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.
COMMENTS: Long-standing federal and state policies encourage
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wide-scale deployment of advanced telecommunication
capabilities. However, according to a report issued in February
2015 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), broadband
deployment in the United States - especially in rural areas - is
failing to keep pace with today's advanced, high-quality voice,
data, graphics, and video offerings. According to the FCC, 17%
of all Americans lack access to high-speed telecommunication
services. In rural areas, that number grows to 53%.
Strategies for facilitating rapid broadband deployment typically
include providing easy, quick access to public rights-of-way,
particularly longitudinal rights of way such as streets and
roads. However, according to the FCC, the largest cost of
deploying broadband is burying fiber optic cables and conduit
underground. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration
indicates that 90% of the cost of deploying broadband is due to
the cost of roadway excavation. As a result, President Obama
recently issued an executive order directing his transportation
department to facilitate expeditious access to highway
rights-of-way at minimal cost to telecommunications providers.
Caltrans, as a part of the California Broadband Initiative
developed in response to Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive
Order in 2006, instituted a policy to encourage broadband
co-location within the state highway rights-of-way. For seven
years, the department announced each upcoming highway project
and invited telecommunications providers to lay conduit as a
part of the project. In the end, not one provider participated
in the project, and the effort was disbanded.
Telecommunications providers can still access Caltrans'
rights-of-way to install conduit via the department's
encroachment permit process, however. Furthermore, on the
wireless side of the telecommunications industry, Caltrans has
an active program to facilitate the build-out and co-location of
public and private wireless telecommunication systems. The
department participates in the state's central data base of
state-owned, non-highway properties available for use by
telecommunications providers, and it has policies and procedures
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in place to streamline the necessary encroachment permits.
It is unclear that a lack of access to state highways is a major
impediment to wide-scale deployment of high-speed Internet
access, particularly in light of Caltrans' experience in the
California Broadband Initiative.
Pending legislation: Federal legislation (HR 3805 (Eschoo)) is
pending that would enact the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act to
expand high-speed Internet access. HR 3805 would require
federal-aid highway projects to include broadband conduit
beneath paved surfaces if an evaluation determines that there
will be a need to install conduit sometime within the next 15
years. Similar legislation has been introduced twice before but
was unsuccessful in securing passage.
Analysis Prepared by:
Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0004163