SB 424: The Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account and Federal Funding Account.

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 to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies, as specified. Existing law establishes the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account in the fund to approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98% of California households in each consortia region, and establishes the Federal Funding Account in the fund to expeditiously connect unserved and underserved communities, as specified.

The Get Connected California Act of 2024, 2024 would require the commission to ensure all deployment grant awardees, defined as all internet service providers that receive funding from certain accounts the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account and the Federal Funding Account within the California Advanced Services Fund, offer affordable home internet service to households participating in certain public assistance programs, as specified, in the deployment grant awardees service territory within 90 days of receiving that funding. The bill would define affordable home internet service to mean internet service costing no more than $30 per month and that meets specified minimum speed requirements. The bill would require these deployment grant awardees to establish telephone numbers to sign up eligible households and would require these awardees to advertise the availability of affordable home internet service, among other requirements placed on these awardees. internet service that costs no more than $30 per month and meets certain minimum speed requirements, as specified. The bill would require a deployment grant awardee to allow any household in a project area, as defined, to switch to the above-described low-cost broadband service option in the billing cycle immediately following the households enrollment in the low-cost broadband service option. The bill would not apply these requirements to applications submitted to the commission before January 1, 2025. The bill would make the above-described provisions severable.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.