AB 1461

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund program to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians. Existing law establishes various accounts in the fund, including the Federal Funding Account. Existing law requires the commission, upon the deposit of state or federal infrastructure moneys into the account, to implement a program using those moneys to expeditiously connect unserved and underserved communities by applicable federal deadlines. Under existing law, of the $2,000,000,000 appropriated to the commission to fund last-mile broadband infrastructure in the Budget Act of 2021, the commission is required to allocate $1,000,000,000 for projects in rural counties and $1,000,000,000 for projects in urban counties, except that any of those moneys that are not encumbered on or before June 30, 2023, will be available to the commission to allocate for the construction of last-mile broadband infrastructure anywhere in the state. This bill would revise those provisions related to the account to also require the commission to implement the program upon the allocation of moneys for purposes of the account, expand the requirement that the commission separately allocate $1,000,000,000 to projects in rural and urban counties to apply to the $2,000,000,000 appropriated or otherwise committed to the commission to fund last-mile broadband infrastructure in the Budget Act of 2021, and delete the provision that would make those moneys that have not been encumbered on or before June 30, 2023, available for projects anywhere in the state.