Revision: March 9, 2021, 3:45 p.m.
Election Law and Municipal Affairs
March 9, 2021
2021-0742s
05/10
Amendment to SB 88
Amend section 1 of Part II of the bill by replacing RSA 374:34-a, III with the following:
III. The commission shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A to carry out the provisions of this section, including appropriate formula or formulae for apportioning costs, and shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A implementing the provisions of One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) as adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 47 CFR 1.1411(j).
Amend the bill by replacing Part III with the following:
PART III
Relative to the issuance of bonds for financing broadband infrastructure.
1 Broadband Infrastructure Bonds. Amend RSA 33:3-g, III and IV to read as follows:
III. A municipality, county, or communications district shall not issue bonds for the purpose of financing the development, construction, reconstruction, renovation, improvement, and acquisition of broadband infrastructure in any location within a municipality, county, or communications district unserved by broadband as defined in RSA 38:38, I(c) unless a request for information has been issued, at a minimum, to all providers serving the issuing community in accordance with RSA 33:3-g, IV and such providers have been given [2 months] 30 days to respond to the request. The request for information [may] shall include, but is not limited to, information identifying [locations] addresses within a municipality, county, or communications district, served by broadband as defined in RSA 38:38, I(c). A response shall meet the requirements of this paragraph if it includes, in either map or spreadsheet form, street level information identifying the first and last serviceable address. After completing, issuing, and receiving responses to such request for information, a municipality, county, or communications district may issue a request for proposals for the purpose of engaging in a public-private partnership pursuant to RSA 33:3 or RSA 33-B for the deployment of broadband infrastructure, as defined in RSA 38:38, I(e), and the provision of broadband service as defined in RSA 38:38, I(f). A municipality, county, or communications district may select a proposal based on criteria including, but not limited to, provider ability to deploy, manage, and maintain a broadband network. Requests for proposals shall include, in either map or spreadsheet form, street level information identifying the first and last serviceable address. A municipality, county, or communications district may determine that no provider has met the criteria included in the request for proposals and may issue bonds for purposes pursuant to RSA 33:3 and RSA 33-B, including but not limited to, open networks. If a broadband provider does not respond to a request for information pursuant to this paragraph, the locations served by that broadband provider shall be considered unserved, unless those locations are served by a broadband provider who responded to that municipality's request for information.
IV. [Any request for information issued pursuant to this section after December 31, 2020 shall conform with a model request for information issued by the New Hampshire department of business and economic affairs.] The office of strategic initiatives shall maintain a list by town of all providers interested in receiving requests for information. The list shall include physical and electronic address information for interested providers and shall be updated as needed, but at least annually. For purposes of issuing requests for information pursuant to paragraph III, a municipality, county, or communications district shall reference the interested provider list maintained by the office of strategic initiatives and shall issue requests for information to all interested providers in that municipality, county, or communications district, both electronically and by United States mail.
2 Effective Date. Part III of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.