Governor’s staff convenes broadband discussion

AWC and city representatives recently sat down with stakeholders and the Governor’s staff to discuss ideas for a possible rural broadband bill introduced in the 2019 legislative session. A white paper with four areas of interest was circulated for discussion purposes.

The areas of interest:

• Access, authority and overbuild protection
• City ordinances, permits, and rights-of-way
• Creation of a broadband office
• Broadband funding

Most of the concepts in the paper are familiar issues that have been debated in recent legislative proposals. The section addressing city issues would require small cell ordinance adoption by larger cities under certain circumstances, require an outline of standards in ordinances, allow for expedited permitting, and would restrict the use of conditional use permits for small cell infrastructure in certain conditions.

This was the first meeting on this subject this interim, and stakeholders have been asked to comment on the draft white paper by the first of June. AWC will be discussing the provisions in the paper with members and city leaders and will send a response by the deadline.

Watch here in Legislative Bulletin in the coming months for updates on this issue.