Communications & Technology 2019-2020

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The Senate Communications and Technology Committee met on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

The Senate Communications and Technology Committee met on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 and reported the following bills unanimously out of committee:

SB487 (Laughlin) − Updates the Breach of Personal Information Act providing for notification of breaches for agencies, counties, school districts, and municipalities.

HB2348 (Causer ) − Creating an unserved broadband funding program in the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

The Senate Communications and Technology Committee met on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

The Senate Communication and Technology Committee met on Monday, June 22, 2020 to consider the following bills and amendments, which were all reported out as amended. All votes were unanimous.

SB 835 (Langerholc) – creates a grant program for broadband deployment to underserved areas.

• A06275 – This amendment moves the grant program from DCED to the Commonwealth Financing Authority, inserts grant administration guidelines, removes the requirement for the grantor to consult with the Governor’s Office of Broadband Initiatives, eliminates the Mobile Telecommunications Broadband Investment Tax Credit in the Tax Reform Code of 1971, and reduces the bill’s appropriation for the grant program from $10M to $5M

SB 1118 (Pittman) – provides for electric cooperatives, broadband service suppliers, and their affiliates to provide broadband services through the cooperatives’ existing easements and freestanding structures. Provides that broadband service suppliers may only access the easements if the cooperative or its affiliate has attached broadband infrastructure already

• A06292 – adds language ensuring that cooperatives must give equal and fair access to their easements that they give to their affiliates.

HB 2438 (Owlett) – the House companion bill to SB 1118 as amended by A06292.