(Doc Name h:\legwork\house\amend\h-wm\001\h2 broadband great.docx):
EXPLANATION: Establish the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Pgm
Amend the bill, as and if amended, Part IB, Section 117, GENERAL
PROVISIONS, page 523, , after line 8, by adding an appropriately
numbered paragraph to read:
/ (GP: Growing Rural Economies with
Access to Technology (GREAT) Program) (A) There is established
the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT)
program to facilitate the deployment of broadband to unserved
areas of the State. The purpose of this program is to encourage
the deployment of broadband at the highest possible speeds
throughout as much of the inhabitable geographic area of the
State that is practical and feasible by the year 2030.
(B) For
purposes of this provision:
(1)
'Agriculture' means:
(a)
the cultivation of soil for production and
harvesting of crops including, but not limited to, fruits,
vegetables, sod, flowers, and ornamental plants;
(b)
the planting and production of trees and
timber;
(c)
dairying and the raising, management, care,
and training of livestock, including horses, bees, poultry, and
other animals for individual and public use, consumption, and
marketing;
(d)
aquaculture as defined in Section
46-1-10(2);
(e)
the operation, management, conservation,
improvement, and maintenance of a farm and the structures and
buildings on the farm, including building and structure repair,
replacement, expansion, and construction incident to the farming
operation;
(f)
when performed on the farm, 'agriculture',
'agricultural', and 'farming' also include the marketing and
selling of agricultural products, agritourism, the storage and
use of materials for agricultural purposes, packing, treating,
processing, sorting, storage, and other activities performed to
add value to crops, livestock, and agricultural items produced
on a farm, and similar activities incident to the operation of a
farm; or
(g)
a public or private grain warehouse or
warehouse operation where grain is held ten days or longer and
includes, but is not limited to, all buildings, elevators,
equipment, and warehouses consisting of one or more warehouse
sections and considered a single delivery point with the
capability to receive, load out, weigh, dry, and store
grain.
(2)
'Authority' means the South Carolina Rural
Infrastructure Authority.
(3)
'Broadband service' means
terrestrially-deployed Internet access service with transmission
speeds of at least twenty-five megabits per second (Mbps)
download and at least three megabit per second upload.
(4)
'Cooperative' means a telephone membership
corporation, organized pursuant to Article 1, Chapter 46, Title
33.
(5)
'Director' means the Executive Director of
the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority.
(6)
'Eligible economically-distressed county'
means a county designated as a Tier IV or Tier III county as
defined in Section 12-6-3360.
(7)
'Eligible project' means a discrete and
specific project located in an unserved area of an
economically-distressed county seeking to provide broadband
service to homes, businesses, and community anchor points not
currently served. Eligible projects do not include middle mile,
backhaul, and other similar projects not directed at broadband
service to end users. The designated area for an eligible
project may not be smaller than a census block.
(8)
'Eligible recipient' means private providers
of broadband services, including cooperatively organized
entities, or any partnerships formed between cooperatively
organized entities, private providers, or any combination
thereof. To be considered an 'eligible recipient' there must be
either a demonstrated success in having previously managed
retail end-user networks with proof of acceptable customer
satisfaction, or the 'eligible recipient' must hold a contract
with such an entity to actually provide service over the
facilities being funded.
(9)
'Household' means a house, apartment, single
room, or other group of rooms, if occupied or intended for
occupancy as separate living quarters, and where the occupants
do not live with any other persons in the structure, and there
is direct access from the outside or through a common hall.
(10)
'Infrastructure costs' means costs directly
related to the construction of broadband infrastructure for the
extension of broadband service for an eligible project,
including installation, acquiring or updating easements,
equipment, fiber, construction, backhaul infrastructure, and
testing costs. The term does not include overhead or
administrative costs.
(11)
'Unserved area' means a designated
geographic area where at least ninety percent of households are
presently without access to fixed, terrestrially-deployed
broadband at speeds of at least ten Mbps download and at least
one Mbps upload. Areas where a private provider has been
designated or has applied to receive funds through other state
or federally-funded programs designed for broadband deployment
must be considered served if the funding is intended to result
in construction of facilities in the area within twenty-four
months.
(C) (1)
The Growing Rural Economies with Access to
Technology Fund is established as a special revenue fund in the
South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority, with amounts to
be appropriated by the General Assembly. The director may award
grants from the fund to eligible recipients for eligible
projects. The funds must be used by the recipient to pay for
infrastructure costs associated with an eligible project. To
ensure consumers served by the infrastructure funded by this
program are actually receiving the service intended and that the
network is properly maintained, the recipients are subject to
applicable rules and regulations governing other similar
providers or others receiving state support to provide
communication services and are subject to the authority of the
Office of Regulatory Staff regarding inspections, audits, or
examinations, as set forth in Section 58-4-50 of the 1976 Code.
The authority and the Office of Regulatory Staff are authorized
to share relevant information with each other for the purpose of
carrying out their respective tasks.
(2)
Project areas comprised of census blocks, or
portions thereof, within which a broadband provider is receiving
state or federal matching funds to deploy technologically
neutral scalable broadband facilities within the next
twenty-four months are ineligible for the GREAT program. It is
essential for the authority to know the location of census
blocks, or portions thereof, comprising these areas so it can
determine project eligibility. A private provider receiving
state or federal matching funds to deploy broadband facilities
within the area shall, before January 1, 2020, submit only a
listing of the census blocks, or portions thereof, comprising
each of its federally-funded project areas meeting this
requirement and nothing more to the authority and thereafter
shall submit this census block data by May fifteenth. The
authority only shall utilize this data to update maps of census
blocks to reflect these census blocks, or portions thereof, as
being served. Information provided to the Office of Regulatory
Staff pursuant to this paragraph is exempt from public
disclosure pursuant to Chapter 4, Title 30.
(3)
Applications for grants must be submitted at
times designated by the director and, at a minimum, must
include:
(a)
an attestation to the office that the
proposed project area is eligible;
(b)
evidence demonstrating the applicant's
experience and ability in building, operating, and managing
Broadband Service networks serving residential customers;
(c)
the total cost and duration of the
project;
(d)
the amount to be funded by the
applicant;
(e)
an illustration or description of the area
to be served and the number of homes, businesses,
community-anchor points, agricultural operations, or
agricultural processing facilities that have access to broadband
service as a result of the project;
(f)
an assessment of the current level of access
to broadband service in the proposed deployment area and the
current level of service provided at the point from which
broadband deployment is made;
(g)
the proposed construction time line, with
specific annual build-out percentage commitments;
(h)
a description of the services to be
provided, including the proposed upstream and downstream
broadband speeds to be delivered and any applicable data caps,
provided that any applicant proposing a data cap below one
hundred fifty gigabytes of usage each month shall provide
justification to the satisfaction of the office that the
proposed cap is in the public interest and consistent with
industry standards;
(i)
any other information or supplementary
documentation requested by the office;
(j)
for the proposed area to be served, the
infrastructure cost for each household for the project;
(k)
evidence of support for the project from
citizens, local government, businesses, and institutions in the
community;
(l)
the proposed advertised speed to be marketed
to end users;
(m)
an explanation of the scalability of the
broadband infrastructure to be deployed for higher broadband
speeds in the future;
(n)
proof that appropriate interconnection
agreements and physical pathways to transport consumer broadband
traffic to the internet exist;
(o)
a five-year business plan demonstrating that
the project in question is a viable business and that operating
costs, including capital cost, can be supported from operations;
and
(p)
evidence of successful operation of retail
services, including evidence of appropriate customer
satisfaction, or evidence that an operating contract exists with
a third party that can meet these requirements.
(4)
Applications must be made publicly available
by posting on the website of the authority for a period of at
least thirty days before award. During the thirty-day period,
any interested party may submit comments to the director
concerning any pending application. A provider of broadband
services may submit a protest of any application on the grounds
the proposed project covers an area that is not an eligible area
pursuant to this provision. Protests must be submitted in
writing, accompanied by all relevant supporting documentation
and must be considered by the authority in connection with the
review of the application. For applications with filed
protests, the director shall issue a written decision to the
protesting party at least fifteen days before the approval of
that application. The authority may not award any grants to
fund deployment in an area that fails to meet the criterion for
being unserved. Appeals may be made to the Administrative Law
Court pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act.
(5)
The authority may consult with the
Department of Commerce to determine if an eligible project
proposed pursuant to this provision will benefit a potential
economic development project relevant to the proposed area
outlined in the eligible project.
(6)
Applications must be scored based upon a
system that awards a single point for criteria considered to be
the minimum level for the provision of broadband service with
additional points awarded to criteria that exceed minimum
levels. The authority shall score project applications in
accordance with the following:
(a)
projects involving service by a South
Carolina-based company, a company that historically has provided
broadband service, or that has existing facilities in close
proximity to the designated area, must be given five points in
its application score where it is documented to the satisfaction
of the authority that service by the company will facilitate
deployment and reduce cost for each housing unit by utilizing
existing resources, facilities, and infrastructure;
(b)
the authority shall give additional points
to projects based upon the estimated number of unserved
households within the eligible economically-distressed county,
as determined by the most recent data published by the Federal
Communications Commission or any other reliable information
available to the authority. Points are given as follows:
(1)
projects that will be located in counties
with estimated unserved households of seven hundred or less
receive one point;
(2)
projects that will be located in counties
with estimated unserved households of between seven hundred and
one thousand ninety-nine receive two points; and
(3)
projects that will be located in counties
with estimated unserved households of two thousand and over
receive three points;
(c)
the authority shall give additional points
to projects that will provide broadband service to unserved
households within the eligible economically-distressed county,
as determined by the most recent data published by the Federal
Communications Commission or any other reliable information
available to the authority. Points are given as follows:
(1)
projects proposing to serve less than one
hundred fifty unserved households within the project area
receive one point;
(2)
projects proposing to serve between one
hundred fifty and two hundred forty-nine unserved households
within the project area receive two points; and
(3)
proposing to serve two hundred fifty or more
unserved households within the project area receive three
points;
(d)
the authority shall give additional points
to projects that will provide broadband service to unserved
businesses located within the eligible economically-distressed
county, as determined by the most recent data published by the
Federal Communications Commission or any other reliable
information available to the authority. Points are given to
projects that serve unserved businesses within the project area
as follows:
(1)
projects proposing to serve between one and
four businesses receive one point;
(2)
projects proposing to serve between five and
ten businesses receive two points; and
(3)
projects proposing to serve either more than
ten businesses or an agricultural operation, agricultural
processing facility, or a business with thirty-one or more
full-time employees receive three points;
(e)
the authority shall give additional points
to projects that minimize the infrastructure cost of the
proposed project for each household, based upon information
available to the authority; and
(f)
projects that will provide minimum download
and minimum upload speeds have the aggregate points given under
items (1) through (5) multiplied by a factor at the level
indicated in the table below:
Minimum Download: Minimum Upload
Score Multiplier
25:3 Mbps.
1.00
100:3 Mbps. or greater
2.00
(7)
The office shall score applications based
upon the metrics provided in subsection (C)(6).
(8)
Applications receiving the highest score
receive priority status for the awarding of grants pursuant to
this section. Applicants awarded grants pursuant to this
section shall enter into an agreement with the authority. The
agreement must contain all of the elements outlined in
subsection (C)(3) and any other provisions the authority may
require. The agreement must contain a provision governing the
time line and minimum requirements and thresholds for
disbursement of grant funds measured by the progress of the
project. Grant funds must be disbursed only upon verification
by the authority that the terms of the agreement have been
fulfilled according to the progress milestones contained in the
agreement. At project completion, the grant recipient shall
certify and provide to the authority evidence consistent with
Federal Communications Commission attestation that the proposed
minimum upstream and minimum downstream broadband speeds
identified in the application guidelines, and for which a base
speed multiplier was awarded pursuant to item (C)(6)(f), are
available throughout the project area before any end user
connections. A single grant award may not exceed two million
dollars. No more than one grant may be awarded each fiscal year
for a project in any one eligible economically-distressed
county.
(9)
(a) Grant recipients are
required to provide matching funds based upon the application
scoring pursuant to this section in the following minimum
amounts:
Score Matching Requirement
7.0 points or less
55%
Greater than 7.0, but less than 14.0 points
50%
Greater than 14.0, but less than 21.0 points
45%
21.0 points or greater
30%.
(b)
Federal or state grants or program funds may
not be used for any portion of the matching funds paid by the
grant recipient.
(10)
The authority shall require that grant
recipients offer the proposed advertised minimum download and
minimum upload speeds identified in the project application for
the duration of the five-year service agreement. At least
annually, a grant recipient shall provide to the authority
evidence consistent with Federal Communications Commission
attestation that the grant recipient is making available the
proposed advertised speed, or a faster speed, as contained in
the grant agreement. For the duration of the agreement, grant
recipients shall disclose any changes to data caps for the
project area that differ from the data caps listed in the grant
application to the authority.
(11)
A grant recipient shall forfeit the amount
of the grant received if it fails to perform, in material
respect, the obligations established in the agreement. Grant
recipients that fail to provide the minimum advertised
connection speed for which a reduction in matching funds was
applied shall forfeit that amount. A grant recipient that
forfeits amounts disbursed pursuant to this section is liable
for the amount disbursed plus interest, computed from the date
of the disbursement. The number of subscribers that subscribe
to broadband services offered by the provider in the project
area may not be a measure of performance pursuant to the
agreement for the purposes of this subsection.
(12)
Grant recipients shall submit to the Office
of Regulatory Staff an annual report for each funded project for
the duration of the agreement. The report must include a
summary of the items contained in the grant agreement and level
of attainment for each and also must include:
(a)
the number of households, businesses,
agricultural operations, and community anchor points that have
broadband access as a result of the project;
(b)
the percentage of end users in the project
area who have access to broadband service and actually subscribe
to the broadband service;
(c)
the average monthly subscription cost for
broadband service in the project area;
(d)
verifiable evidence that retail services are
offered at rates and upon terms and conditions commensurate with
those provided by any incumbent broadband provider operating in
the general area; and
(e)
information related to service outages,
customer complaints, or other such performance data as necessary
to ensure the funding is being used to provide high-quality
service.
(13)
The Office of Regulatory Staff shall submit
an annual report to the General Assembly before September first.
The report must contain the following:
(a)
the number of grant projects applied for and
the number of grant agreements entered into;
(b)
a timeline for each grant agreement and the
number of households, businesses, agricultural operations, and
community anchor points expected to benefit from each
agreement;
(c)
the amount of matching funds required for
each agreement and the total amount of investment;
(d)
a summary of areas receiving grants that are
now being provided broadband service and the advertised
broadband speeds for those areas;
(e)
any breaches of agreements, grant fund
forfeitures, or subsequent reductions or refunds of matching
funds; and
(f)
any recommendations for the grant program,
including better sources and methods for improving outcomes and
accountability.
(14)
Nothing in this article is intended to
regulate the provision of broadband except as it relates to
oversight of providers receiving funds to provide the services
described herein.
(D) The
Rural Infrastructure Authority shall collaborate with the
following agencies in implementing this provision: the
Department of Commerce, the Department of Administration, the
Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, the Educational Television
Commission, and the Department of Transportation.
(E)
Nothing in this provision shall change any rights an
entity may have to provide broadband service in this
State./
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend totals and titles to conform.