AN ACT IMPROVING BROADBAND ACCESS.

This bill requires the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC), in consultation with the Governor's Broadband Working Group, the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), and the Broadband Internet Coordinating Council, to develop a statewide technology program. It requires the program to have infrastructure, education, and support components and to provide grants to private providers and private-public partnerships. The program must be funded with money the state receives under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to expand broadband service.

The bill also requires DPUC, in consultation with telecommunications and Internet service providers, to contract with a third party to create and regularly update a detailed, geographic information system (GIS) map of the broadband services.

Any broadband provider supplying data to DPUC to develop the program and the GIS map may request, before supplying the data, that DPUC treat the data as a trade secret or proprietary commercial or financial information and thus exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. If DPUC determines that the data does not constitute a trade secret or proprietary commercial or financial information, the provider need not supply it to DPUC.

The bill requires DPUC to report to the Energy and Technology Committee by January 1 each year, from 2010 to 2015, on the development of the initiative and the map.

The bill specifies that it does not give DPUC or any other entity any additional regulatory or other authority over telecommunications and information technology providers.

1. eliminates the requirement that certain video providers carry the Connecticut Television Network (CTN);

2. requires cable companies and related entities to fund town-specific community access until December 31, 2012;

3. decreases the types of entities eligible for funding from the public, educational, and governmental programming and educational technology investment account (PEGPETIA);

4. establishes a process by which a nonprofit organization can petition DPUC to assume responsibility from the cable company or another nonprofit organization for community access operations;

5. modifies who can serve on cable advisory councils;

6. exempts certain utilities from DPUC auditing requirements;

7. requires holders of certificates of video franchise authority (the successor to cable franchises) to provide $ 2,000 in funding to the advisory council each year;

8. requires that two electric industry filings be made biennially rather than annually;

9. makes procedural changes with regard to DPUC filings;

10. requires that certain utility termination notices be sent by certified mail; and

11. requires DPUC to initiate a docket to determine how best to ensure the availability of transmission of CTN to satellite TV subscribers.

*House Amendment “A” (1) requires that the technology program be funded with money the state receives under the ARRA; (2) modifies the data providers must supply for the GIS map and types of information the map must convey; (3) exempts these providers from having to supply data they believe to be proprietary if DPUC determines that it is subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, rather than exempting the data they provide from the act; and (4) makes minor changes.

*Senate Amendment “A” adds all of the provisions other than the technology initiative and the GIS map.

The bill eliminates a requirement that cable companies and companies holding a competitive video service provider certificate (e. g. , AT&T) carry CTN to all of their subscribers.

The bill requires cable companies and related entities to fund, until December 31, 2012, town-specific community access. Community access consists of public, educational, and government (PEG) access. Specifically, it requires that a company or organization that operated and funded town-specific programming on January 1, 2008 continue to fund town-specific funding in the same proportion as funding for original programming from locally-run operations as it did as of January 1, 2008. Thus, if half of a company's 2008 budget for local programming was spent on town-specific programming, it would be required to spend half of its future local programming budgets on town-specific programming.

The bill narrows the types of entities eligible for funding from the public, educational, and governmental programming and educational technology investment account (PEGPETIA). Under current law, DPUC must allocate half of the money in this account to local and state cable TV advisory councils, PEG programmers, and PEG studio operators. The bill limits funding to local PEG studio operators who DPUC require to file annual community access provider reports there, by making advisory councils and programmers ineligible. By law, DPUC must allocate the other half of the account to school boards and other educational entities for education technology initiatives. The account is funded by a tax on cable TV companies and related companies.

The bill defines CTN as the General Assembly's statewide 24-hour state public affairs programming service, and states that it is separate and distinct from community access channels.

The bill establishes a process by which a nonprofit organization can petition DPUC to assume responsibility from the cable company for community access operations, and for DPUC to assign this responsibility based on criteria in current law. Current law has similar provisions, but because they are tied to franchise renewals, they are inoperative (PA 07-253 effectively ended cable franchising. )

The bill also allows nonprofit organizations in franchise areas where the existing organization has an annual operating budget of $ 100,000 or more to petition to assume responsibility for community access from the organization that currently has this responsibility. (This provision applies to several franchise areas, including the areas serving Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, and Waterbury). The applicant organization must file its petition by August 2, 2009 or in the 60-day period before October 1 every five years thereafter. DPUC must conduct a contested case to give this responsibility to the applicant or another nonprofit organization or the cable company. DPUC must make its determination based on the same criteria it must use in determining whether to transfer this responsibility from a cable company to a nonprofit organization.

Finally, the bill allows DPUC, on its own initiative, to review and evaluate the provision of community access programming by the organization or company. DPUC can begin this proceeding in the 60-day period before April 1, 2010 and in the 60-day period every five years thereafter. DPUC must conduct this review or evaluation if the Consumer Counsel petitions it to so during these periods. The review must consider the same factors described above.

The bill bars all advisory council members, not just those appointed by the chief elected official of a municipality, the board of education, or the public libraries, from being an employee of a cable company.

It allows the council member in a franchise area that meets narrow criteria (a seven-town franchise with one town meeting town with a population of between 20,000 and 26,000) to be employees or contractors of the community access provider. It appears that this provision only applies to cable area 4 (the Comcast-Branford franchise area). Both provisions apply to areas served by cable companies. The latter also applies to companies with certificates of cable franchise authority (the new types of certificate granted to cable companies under PA 07-253).

Under current law, essentially all utility companies must undergo annual audits conducted by an independent public accountant acceptable to DPUC. The bill exempts from this and related requirements that those utilities that are directly or indirectly owned by a parent company whose accounts and operations must be audited annually under federal law.

The bill requires that this initiative include provisions for (1) expanding and deploying broadband infrastructure in the parts of the state DPUC determines to be unserved in terms of access to broadband (priority areas) and (2) increasing broadband adoptions. Under the bill, “broadband” means high-speed Internet service whose minimum speed is the speed set by the Federal Communications Commission.

The initiative program must include a detailed financial incentive component to award incentives first to private providers and then to public-private partnerships that deploy additional broadband infrastructure to these areas. Incentives cannot be provided to support any deployment where wireline or wireless broadband is already available, but may be provided where broadband access by satellite technology is already available.

The bill requires that DPUC, in partnership with the private sector the governor's working group, and in consultation with OCC and the council, establish a digital technology access and education program to provide information, computers, and other technology to access broadband and communications technologies in local communities in priority areas. The program may include, among other things, education and skill-building opportunities, hardware and software, Internet connectivity, and development of locally relevant content and delivery of vital services through technology.

The bill requires that the initiative provide organizational and capacity building support to groups throughout the state. These include, among others, municipalities, community colleges, school districts, libraries, and senior centers. The program must identify and facilitate the availability of other public and private funding sources to enhance the purposes of the initiative.

The bill requires that DPUC, in consultation with OCC and the council, establish a program to provide competitive grants to groups throughout the state, including municipalities, community colleges, school districts, libraries, and senior centers. The grantees must use the money to (1) provide training and skill-building opportunities, (2) provide access to hardware and software, (3) provide Internet connectivity, (4) adopt information and communication technologies in priority areas, and (5) develop locally relevant content and delivery of vital services through technology.

DPUC must develop criteria for awarding the grants, which may include, among other things, eligibility requirements and funding sources.

Under the bill, the GIS map must be at the census block level and display levels of broadband service by connection speed and type of technology used. The maps must be integrated with demographic information to produce a comprehensive statewide inventory and mapping of existing broadband service and capability.

1. areas unserved by any broadband provider,

2. areas served by a single broadband provider,

3. areas served by multiple providers,

4. the location of towers used to transmit and receive broadband signals,

5. average upstream and downstream transmission speeds at the census block group (i. e. , neighborhood) level of detail, and

6. types of technology used to provide broadband service.

The data used to produce the maps must be capable of being integrated with demographic data from other sources, such as population density and household income, to allow for the production of maps that measure, down to the census block level of detail, various characteristics of residents in areas receiving different levels of broadband services and using different technologies.

The bill requires holders of certificates of video franchise authority to (1) convene a meeting twice a year with the advisory council under their former cable franchise and (2) provide $ 2,000 in funding to the advisory council each year.

The bill requires companies in the electric industry to file reports on forecasted loads and resources (demand and supply) by March 1 of every even-numbered year, rather than every year.

The bill requires electric companies to file assessments on demand growth trends and on how best to address it by January 1 of every even-numbered year, rather than every year. The assessments are used to develop the plans under which the companies procure resources that include savings from conservation programs as well as power supply. The bill eliminates a requirement that DPUC approve or modify these plans within 60 days of their submission.

The bill specifies that the date and time of filing of each document with DPUC is when DPUC first receives a complete electronic or paper version of the document, so long as it is filed according to DPUC's regulations. If the document must be accompanied by a fee, DPUC may not consider the document filed until it receives the fee. If a document is electronically submitted outside of DPUC's normal business hours, DPUC must consider the document to be filed when its offices next open. DPUC must require that two copies of each paper version of electronic filings be sent to DPUC by first class mail. Any party or intervenor in a DPUC docket (proceeding) who does not have computer access can request that DPUC provide a paper version of any filing from another party or intervenor in the docket.

PA 09-31 establishes verification requirements for the termination of residential utility service. If someone other than the customer or his or her authorized representative seeks to terminate service, the utility must notify the customer at his or her last known address at least nine days before the termination date. The act also requires owners of residential buildings to give utilities and heating fuel dealers access to meters and other facilities located on their premises upon being given written notice by the utility or dealer. This bill requires both of these notices to be sent by certified mail.

The bill requires DPUC to initiate a docket to determine how best to ensure the availability of CTN, or its successor, to in-state satellite TV subscribers. The docket must at least examine tax policies as a tool to ensure such availability. By January 15, 2010, DPUC must report its recommendations to the Energy and Technology Committee.