Connecting America
Broadband Policy Issues and Options for State Legislatures

NCSL Resources

Broadband Statutes
2007 State Legislation on Broadband
2006 State Legislation on Broadband
State Broadband Task Forces, Commissions, or Authorities
NCSL Telecommunications Home Page

State Legislatures Graphic January 2008 State Legislatures article: High Speed to the Hinterlands, by Garry Boulard, January 2008. NCSL LegisBriefs Image NCSL LegisBrief: Connecting America with Broadband, by Robert D. Boerner, Vol 14, No. 35, August/September 2006

External Resources

NOTE: The following materials are provided for information purposes only. Providing these links does not necessarily indicate NCSL's support or endorsement of the site.

State Legislative Reports
Federal Reports and Resources
Other Reports and Resources

State Broadband Task Forces, Commissions, or Authorities

California Broadband Task Force
Governor Schwarzenegger in November 2006 signed an executive order to create a broadband task force that lets experts from government and business work together to identify and eliminate obstacles to making broadband internet access ubiquitous in the state. Within the Broadband Task Force are six working groups: Build-Out, Economic Development, Education, Emerging Technologies and New Applications, Health Care, and Public-Private Partnerships for Community Development. The working groups are developing recommendations for consideration by the task force. The Task Force issued its Final Report in January 2008.

Hawaii Broadband Task Force
Hawaii 2007 H.B. 310, Act 2 (Special Session 2007) established Hawaii's Broadband Task Force. The task force is directed to remove barriers against broadband deployment by using a technology-neutral approach to encourage lower prices for broadband services and create more consumer choices. The task force's purpose is to gain wider access to public rights-of-way; identify opportunities for increased broadband deployment and adoption, including very high speed broadband services; and enable the creation and deployment of new advanced communication technologies in Hawaii.

ConnectKentucky
ConnectKentucky, Kentucky's technology-based economic development partnership, is an alliance of technology-minded businesses, government entities, and universities working together to accelerate technology in the Commonwealth. ConnectKentucky supports statewide broadband infrastructure expansion, technology planning, and public policy.

Connected Tennessee
Tennessee 2005 H.B. 2152, Chapter 413, creating the Tennessee Broadband Task Force
The Tennessee Broadband Task Force was created by the General Assembly in 2005. In its initial recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly, the task force cited the model established by Connected Nation in Kentucky and encouraged the initiation of similar efforts in Tennessee. In 2007, Connected Tennessee was established as an independent non-profit organization. Connected Tennessee aims to accelerate the availability and use of technology towards creating a better business environment, more effective community and economic development, improved healthcare, enhanced education, and more efficient government.

Maryland Rural Broadband Task Force
The Maryland Task Force for the Deployment of Broadband in Rural Maryland was established during the 2003 General Assembly session, and in 2005, the General Assembly extended it through June 2006. The task force examined what works best in other regions of the country to expand broadband communications to rural communities. Next, the Task Force considered resources, infrastructure, and cost structures available in Maryland's rural regions to develop or access broadband communications. To establish and enhance broadband communications in the state's rural areas, the task force developed proposals and made recommendations to meet predetermined goals for deployment of effective broadband communications in unserved and underserved areas of the state. The task force recommended legislation, budget provisions or amendments, and changes in state procurement policy.

Missouri Rural High-Speed Internet Access Task Force
Missouri Governor George Blunt created, by executive order, the Rural High-Speed Internet Access Task Force in November 2007 to identify opportunities to increase access to technology across the state. Blunt directed the task force to: 1) assess the current level of high-speed Internet access available in Missouri; 2) identify barriers to deployment to underserved areas including economic, geographic, regulatory, and market barriers; 3) identify potential options to increase the deployment of high-speed Internet access in underserved communities; 4) review best practices in other states to increase high-speed Internet access; and 5) recommend statutory, regulatory, and policy changes needed to increase the availability of high-speed Internet services across the state.

Nebraska Broadband Services Task Force
Established by the 2005 L.B. 645 in October 2005, the Nebraska Broadband Services Task Force discussed issues related to broadband services in Nebraska. The task force identified positive trends regarding broadband deployment, changing consumer demands, and evolving technologies that impact both wholesale and retail broadband services. The task force concluded that private broadband providers are successfully deploying facilities to serve Nebraska’s needs and that competition by public power suppliers in providing wholesale broadband services is unnecessary at this time. However, future technological developments require the state’s attention to ensure citizens have access to changing broadband offerings. The Broadband Services Task Force's Final Report was released Nov 22, 2006.

New York State Council for Universal Broadband
Governor Eliot Spitzer and First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer in December 2007 announced the formation of the New York State Council for Universal Broadband, which is charged with creating, via a competitive grant process, integrated and inclusive public/private partnerships to rapidly deploy affordable broadband serrvices. The Council will recommend a comprehensive statewide strategy that charts a course towards affordable broadband access throughout the State. This approach will seek to leverage existing resources, consider new ways to extend high-speed Internet access beyond traditional means, and recommend approaches to increase digital literacy in underserved urban and rural communities.

South Carolina Broadband Technology and Communications Study Committee
The Carolina Broadband Technology and Communications Study Committee was created by 2007 Act 169 to evaluate the state's broadband communications infrastructure and assess the availability of and need for broadband services in unserved and underserved areas within the state. The Committee's final report, completed in February 2008, recommends that the state create a public-private partnership to promote the deployment and adoption of broadband services in the state.

Vermont Telecommunications Authority
The Vermont Legislature enacted 2007 H.B. 248, Act 79, creating the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA), charging it to ensure that high-speed Internet and cell phone service is available in every corner of Vermont by the end of 2010. The VTA was charged with the following powers and duties: to issue revenue bonds up to $40 M to fund broadband and wireless telecommunications projects; gather data on wireless and broadband infrastructure and services; provide financial assistance in the form of loans, grants, guarantees and other financial instruments to fill in gaps in wireless and broadband coverage; incorporate one or more non-profits to take advantage of grants and other financing available only to non-profits; own, lease, and contract for telecommunications facilities and services for unserved areas; provide assistance to municipalities to deploy infrastructure and attract services; and waive fees required for access to state-owned transportation rights of way for broadband and wireless telecommunications providers in exchange for comparable value to the state.

Virginia Broadband Roundtable
On June 13, 2007, Governor Kaine announced the formation of a “Broadband Roundtable” to accelerate the attainment of his economic strategic goal of having affordable broadband connectivity to every business in the Commonwealth by 2010. The Broadband Roundtable is charged with delivering a “blueprint” to assist communities with broadband planning and deployment. Roundtable members include local, national, and international leaders with a strong track record of innovating in the telecommunications industry.

Virginia Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance
In 2006, Governor Kaine signed Executive Order 35 creating the Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance. The duties of the office include promoting and encouraging use of telework alternatives for public and private employees, including but not limited to appropriate policy and legislative initiatives, and supporting the efforts of both public and private entities within the Commonwealth to enhance or facilitate the deployment of, and access to competitively priced, advanced broadband services, among others.

Federal Reports and Resources

CRS Issue Brief for Congress, Broadband Internet Regulation and Access: Background and Issues, Congressional Research Service, April 2006

CRS Report for Congress, Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs, October 31, 2006

Broadband Deployment Is Extensive throughout the United States, but It Is Difficult to Assess the Extent of Deployment Gaps in Rural Areas, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-06-426, May 2006

Federal Communications Commission, Broadband Web Site

Federal Communications Commission/U.S. Department of Agriculture, Broadband Opportunities for Rural America Web Site

Understanding Broadband Demand: A Review of Critical Issues, Office of Technology Policy, U.S. Department of Commerce, September 23, 2002

State Legislative Reports

Promoting High-Speed Internet Access, Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, August 2007

Broadband Over Power Lines, Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Feb. 2005

Expanding Broadband Access in Underserved Areas, Texas House Research Organization, June 2004

New Law Regarding Municipal Cable Television, Telecommunications, and Broadband Services, Wisconsin Legislative Council, 2004

Other Reports and Materials

Arizona Department of Commerce

Arizona Broadband Initiative and Framework: Analysis and Report, April 2007
The report examines 14 state and six local or regional programs that may prove helpful to Arizona in crafting a program that meets the state’s needs. These programs are taking steps to improve the deployment of broadband telecommunications infrastructure to historically unserved or underserved areas.

California Broadband Task Force

The Final Report of the California Broadband Task Force (January 2008) represents the culmination of more than a year of work by the Task Force, and includes maps of current broadband availability and speed, recommendations to increase broadband access and use, and a timeframe in which to meet these critical goals.

Connected Nation

Connected Nation, Inc. is a national non-profit organization committed to closing the digital divide. Through public-private partnerships, we are increasing broadband availability and creating demand for this new-age technology so people and communities can live and work with more ease and benefit.

Pew Internet & American Life Project

Measuring Broadband: Improving Communications Policymaking through Better Data Collection, November 14, 2007
Policymakers see the need for better data, and this report contains recommendations on principles to guide efforts to improve data collection.

Why We Don't Know Enough About Broadband in the U.S., November 14, 2007
This article puts the rate of home broadband adoption in historical context before discussing in detail the issues surrounding broadband data collection

Home Broadband Adoption 2007, July 3, 2007
Forty-seven percent of adults have high-speed internet connections at home as of early March 2007, up five percentage points from a year earlier.

Internet Penetration and Impact, April 26, 2006
Internet penetration has now reached 73 percent for all American adults. Internet users note big improvements in their ability to shop and the way they pursue hobbies and personal interests online.

Rural Areas and the Internet, February 17, 2004
Historically, Internet penetration rates have been lower in rural areas than in other kinds of communities. Rural Internet penetration has remained roughly 10 percentage points behind the national average in the last four years.

National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)

NASCIO Broadband Publications:
Bowling for Broadband: The Role of the State CIO in Promoting High-Speed Internet Access, September 2004
Bowling for Broadband 2: Toward Citizen-Centric, Broadband-Based E-Government, August 2006

TechNet

TechNet is the bipartisan, political network of CEOs and Senior Executives that promotes the growth of technology and the innovation economy. TechNet focuses on politics and policy by bringing its members together with our nation's policy makers to sustain and advance America's global leadership in innovation.

The State Broadband Index: An Assessment of State Policies Impacting Broadband Deployment and Demand, July 2003
This report, prepared by Analysys Consulting for TechNet, examines the key role that states can play in helping to make broadband available to all Americans.

Last update: March 24, 2008

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