HB 1164 – Various Utility Matters
Authored by Rep. Ethan Manning (R-Logansport)
The bill will facilitate access to and adoption of broadband by making it simpler for school districts to locate broadband facilities on their property, allowing traditional cell towers to be built at greater heights and closer together to increase coverage and capacity, and streamlining access to state-owned properties and structures to deploy broadband faster.
HB 1449 – Broadband Development
Authored by Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso)
This bill specifies the following priorities for the awarding of grants from the fund after June 30, 2021. Extending eligible broadband service to rural areas (for which only available internet connections are at actual speeds of less than 50 mbps downstream), as well as to public school corporation buildings and rural health clinics (for which only available internet connections are at actual speeds of less than 1,000 mbps downstream). Also extends eligible broadband service so to ensure that every resident Indiana student less than 23 years of age has at the student’s residence an access point providing such connection. Finally, the bill establishes the Indiana Broadband Connectivity Program, under which the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) must establish a public broadband portal through which an individual or business may report that minimum broadband internet is unavailable at to them.
Chamber position: Support for both
The latest: On February 15, the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Soliday, passed HB 1164 (9-4) and HB 1449 (11-1).
Indiana Chamber action/commentary: Monday marked an important day for broadband in Indiana with the committee passage of two very significant bills that foreshadow what the same committee intends to do with the Senate bills they will review (and likely amend) a few weeks from now.
Although the committee did not take public testimony on HB 1164 during this week’s hearing, the Chamber supplied written support for the bill to its author, Rep. Manning. The Chamber emphasized its significance, stating that it will alleviate certain red tape that internet service providers must navigate when deploying a broadband network – especially one that uses wireless technology.
The Chamber provided oral testimony in support of HB 1449, a bill that Rep. Soliday amended substantially at the beginning of the hearing. When introducing his amendment, Soliday referenced testimony provided by the Chamber during a Senate committee hearing last week (SB 377). Representative Soliday’s amendment, in part, introduces more transparency into the state’s deployment of broadband grants and requires OCRA to report to his committee annually on the status of awarded projects. Again, based in part on the Chamber’s testimony last week, Soliday incorporated into HB 1449 the Indiana Broadband Connectivity Program, under which OCRA must establish a public broadband portal through which an individual or business may report that minimum broadband internet (defined as an actual speed of at least 25 mbps downstream and at least 3mbps upstream) is unavailable at the individual’s residential or business address. Subsequently, providers may bid competitively for a grant to connect the reported address.
Expanding broadband into rural Indiana is a top legislative priority for the Indiana Chamber this year. House Bills 1164 and 1449 are giant steps in the right direction because they will make technology infrastructure easier to deploy and increase the access to and adoption of high-speed broadband regardless of the city, town or community in which an individual or business resides.
Resource: Adam H. Berry at (317) 264-6892 or email: aberry@indianachamber.com
