HB2476 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB2476

Introduced 02/17/05, by Rep. Constance A. Howard - Monique D. Davis - Lovana Jones

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Connect Illinois Act. Establishes the Illinois Broadband Development Authority to coordinate the spread of broadband telecommunications technology in Illinois in order to achieve competition, affordability, and universal broadband service and to secure the State's telecommunications and economic future. Repeals the Act and dissolves the Authority on January 1, 2010.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning telecommunications.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Connect Illinois Act.

Section 5. Legislative purpose. The General Assembly finds that the future economic vitality of the State of Illinois depends on participation in the growing global information economy and, for this reason, a State authority coordinating the spread of broadband telecommunications technology is in the economic interest of the people of Illinois. The General Assembly further finds that current State telecommunications policy does not encourage the rapid and widespread deployment of state-of-the-art broadband technology and that Illinois and the United States as a whole have fallen drastically behind other states and nations in the capacity, the availability, and the affordability of broadband services. The purpose of this Act is to accomplish the goals of competition, affordability, and universal broadband service and to secure the State's telecommunications and economic future.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Authority" means the Illinois Broadband Deployment Authority established under this Act.

"Broadband" means any technology that provides bidirectional communications transmissions at speeds of at least one megabit per second (1 mbps).

"Broadband deployment" means the spread of any technology that provides bidirectional communications transmissions at speeds of at least 1 mbps.

"Telecommunications infrastructure" means all of the physical components of the transmission of data and voice communication.

Section 15. Illinois Broadband Deployment Authority.

(a) The Illinois Broadband Deployment Authority is created as a body politic and corporate. The Authority shall consist of a 12-member board of directors as follows:

(1) The Lieutenant Governor, who shall serve as both the chairman and a voting member of the board.

(2) The Director of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or the Director's designee.

(3) The Executive Director of the Illinois Commerce Commission, or the Executive Director's designee.

(4) The Secretary of Transportation, or the Secretary's designee.

(5) The Executive Director of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, or the Executive Director's designee.

(6) The Director of the Illinois Finance Authority, or the Director's designee.

(7) Two members appointed by the Governor.

(8) One member appointed by each of the following: the Senate President, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and the House Minority Leader.

Appointments to the board shall be made with consideration of the geographic, gender, and racial diversity of the State. The board shall include members representing rural areas, underserved urban areas, consumer interests, community interests, and commercial interests, including competitive local exchange carriers. Members of the board of directors shall serve 2-year terms. The board of directors shall meet at least quarterly. The board shall have the power to make and amend bylaws for its operation.

All members shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred by them in the performance of the duties of the Authority.

(b) The board of directors may seek input from State agencies not represented on the board, including, but not limited to, the State Board of Education and the Illinois Century Network Policy Committee and the Department of Central Management Services, if input from those agencies is needed by the board to make decisions about the activities of the Authority.

(c) The General Assembly shall appropriate to the Authority the funding necessary to select only those employees necessary for the activities of the Authority, to fund the daily operations of the Authority, and to cover the travel expenses of the Authority.

Section 20. Powers and duties. The Authority shall have all of the following powers and duties:

(1) To seek and distribute private, State, and federal funding, including grants, loans, or general appropriations, for the purpose of broadband deployment.

(2) To continually assess and catalog the telecommunications infrastructure of the State of Illinois for the purpose of determining the present and future needs of the State with respect to realizing the goals of competition, affordability, universal service, and securing the State's telecommunications and economic future. This includes creating and maintaining a comprehensive map of the telecommunications infrastructure in the State. For this purpose, the Authority shall have the power to collect data from facilities-based telecommunications companies operating in the State. The comprehensive map may be created by the Authority or contracted to another entity by the Authority.

(3) To encourage and participate in the coordination of private and public telecommunications development, including local and State efforts to realize the goals of competition, affordability, universal service, and securing the State's telecommunications and economic future.

(4) To work with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, the Illinois Finance Authority, the State Board of Education, and the Illinois Century Network Policy Committee for the purpose of ensuring consistent and efficient deployment of telecommunications services throughout Illinois.

(5) To seed and fund local and regional broadband initiatives throughout the State for the purpose of supporting broadband demand by educating underserved populations in applications using computers and broadband connectivity.

(6) To work with and distribute funding to private and public telecommunications projects in matters related to the construction, acquisition, improvement, or expansion of telecommunications infrastructure. This includes, but is not limited to, acting as a liaison between broadband deployment projects and any entity controlling rights of way and other easements necessary for a given broadband project.

(7) To give priority for financial and technical support to competitive local exchange carriers in areas in which a majority of market share is held by community antenna television services and incumbent local exchange carriers.

(8) To enter into joint ventures and partnerships and to make contracts for the purposes set forth in this Act.

(9) To select employees to carry out the daily operations of the Authority.

Section 25. Repeal; dissolution of Authority. This Act is repealed and the Illinois Broadband Authority is dissolved on January 1, 2010.