BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 745 (Hueso) - Telecommunications: universal service:
California Advanced Services Fund
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|Version: January 4, 2016 |Policy Vote: E., U., & C. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: January 19, 2016 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 745 would expand the types of consortium that are
specifically eligible for grants from the California Advanced
Services Fund (CASF) and would require the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) to provide additional information in
its annual report to the Legislature.
Fiscal
Impact: Workload increases likely in the tens of thousands of
dollars from the CASF (special) for additional reporting
requirements.
Background: The CASF was established to encourage deployment of broadband
services to all Californians that will promote economic growth,
job creation, and substantial social benefits of advanced
information and communications technologies. It is funded by a
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surcharge rate on revenues collected by telecommunications
carriers from end-users of intrastate services. The CASF is
split into four accounts, one of which is the Rural and Urban
Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account, which funds grants
to eligible consortia to fund the cost of broadband deployment
activities other than the capital cost of facilities. Eligible
consortia are specified by the CPUC and may include, but are not
limited to, representatives from the following types of
organizations: local and regional government, public safety,
elementary and secondary education, health care, libraries,
postsecondary education, community-based organizations, tourism,
parks and recreation, agricultural, and business.
Existing law requires the CPUC to annually report to the
Legislature on the status of the CASF activities. Required
information includes the amount of funds expended, the
recipients of expended funds, the geographic regions affected by
funds expended, and the expected benefits from the expenditures.
Proposed Law:
This bill would explicitly add representatives from workforce
organizations and air pollution control or air quality
management districts as eligible members of eligible consortium
for grants from the Rural and urban Regional Broadband Consortia
Grant Account.
This bill would also expand the required information in the
CPUC's annual report to the Legislature on CASF activities to
provide details on efforts to leverage non-CASF funds. The
report would also be required to provide information regarding
impacts of expenditures on a county level in addition to a
regional level.
Staff
Comments: The CPUC notes that there are currently 17 consortia,
most of which contain multiple counties. To report on
expenditures and impacts by county instead of region will take
coordination with the consortia to provide additional
information and data tracking. The CPUC estimates that this
additional work load would be approximately $90,000 annually for
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one PY. Staff believes that these costs are likely to be an
upper limit and should decrease with time once new data
collection processes are established.
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