AB 1409

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer a program to advance universal service by providing discounted rates to qualifying schools, community colleges, libraries, hospitals, health clinics, and community organizations. Existing law requires that all revenues collected by telephone corporations in rates authorized by the commission to fund this program be deposited in the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund. Existing law provides that moneys in the fund are held in trust and may be expended only upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation and requires that all moneys appropriated to the commission from the fund be used exclusively for the program. Existing law requires 15% of the revenues from fees collected from the lease of state-owned real property to the providers of wireless telecommunication services, with certain exceptions, and certain penalties on holders of state franchises for the provision of video service, to be deposited into the Digital Divide Account, which is established in the fund, to be used only for digital divide pilot projects, and defines for this purpose "digital divide projects" to mean community technology programs, as defined, involved in certain activities. Existing law establishes the Digital Divide Grant Program to award grants to certain community-based nonprofit organizations for the purpose of funding community technology programs. This bill would expressly require the Department of General Services to timely deposit those revenues into the account, and would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account to the commission for purposes of the Digital Divide Grant Program. The bill would require the commission to implement the grant program upon the commission projecting an account balance of $500,000 in the following calendar year. The bill would authorize those grants to also be awarded to fund the use of broadband services funded through the fund for homework gap projects and to fund the installation of broadband, broadband service, equipment, administrative implementation, and maintenance for homework gap projects. The bill would define "homework gap projects" as projects that provide elementary and high school pupils with after school access to broadband, as specified. The bill would authorize digital divide pilot project grants for community technology programs involved in activities that include homework gap projects to support the goal of closing the digital divide.