(2) The Oregon Broadband Office shall:
(a) Advocate for the adoption of public policies that close the continuing digital divide by removing barriers to and supporting broadband infrastructure deployment;
(b) Develop broadband investment and deployment strategies for unserved and underserved areas;
(c) Promote private sector, public sector and cooperative broadband solutions;
(d) Support and promote local and regional broadband planning;
(e) Promote technology and service provider neutrality by focusing on desired outcomes rather than specific technological solutions;
(f) Pursue and leverage federal sources of broadband funding to achieve state goals related to broadband;
(g) Manage and award funds allocated to the Oregon Business Development Department for use by the office for broadband projects;
(h) Engage with a stakeholders representing a wide variety of interests, including but not limited to elected officials, government officials, healthcare providers, educators, business and agricultural community leaders and other community leaders and broadband service providers, to facilitate communications and collect information necessary to help make a business case for broadband investments;
(i) Promote digital literacy, equity and inclusion;
(j) Generate public awareness of the value of broadband technologies and applications;
(k) Promote adoption and utilization of broadband technologies and applications;
(L) Develop, maintain and provide public access to:
(A) A statewide broadband map as a platform for data collection to track the availability of broadband services and to measure progress; and
(B) Other information relating to broadband;
(m) Convene relevant state and federal agencies and advise the Governor, state agency leadership and the Oregon Congressional Delegation on actions to leverage state government activities to pursue state goals related to broadband; and
(n) Support and coordinate efforts with the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council. [2019 c.648 §1]
Note: 285A.166 was enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but was not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 285A or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.
Note: Sections 4 to 6 and 9, chapter 17, Oregon Laws 2020 (first special session), provide:
Sec. 4. The Broadband Fund is established, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Broadband Fund shall be credited to the fund. Moneys in the Broadband Fund are continuously appropriated to the Oregon Business Development Department to be used only for providing grants or loans through, or for administering, the Oregon Broadband Office and the program established by rule under section 5 of this 2020 special session Act. The fund shall consist of moneys deposited in the fund pursuant to ORS 759.425. [2020 s.s.1 c.17 §4]
Sec. 5. (1) As used in this section:
(a) "Underserved area" means, based on the most recent broadband deployment data published by the Federal Communications Commission, other federal agencies or the State of Oregon, a geographic area within one or more census blocks, within which there is no service provider offering residential wireline or wireless broadband service at a speed of at least 25 megabits per second for downloads and three megabits per second for uploads.
(b) "Unserved area" means, based on the most recent broadband deployment data published by the Federal Communications Commission, other federal agencies or the State of Oregon, a geographic area within one or more census blocks, within which there is no service provider offering residential wireline or wireless broadband service at a speed of at least 10 megabits per second for downloads and one megabit per second for uploads.
(2)(a) The Oregon Business Development Department shall establish by rule a program for providing grants or loans to assist eligible applicants with projects for:
(A) The planning and development of broadband service infrastructure;
(B) Digital literacy including cybersecurity;
(C) Digital inclusion; and
(D) Digital adoption.
(b) In establishing the program required by this section, the department shall take into consideration all federal funding opportunities for the planning and development of broadband service infrastructure and shall endeavor to administer the program in a manner that serves to maximize the total available state and federal support for broadband development and related planning.
(3) Rules adopted under this section shall include but need not be limited to rules establishing:
(a) Criteria for applications and for establishing the eligibility of applicants and proposed projects for a grant or loan under the program;
(b) A process for:
(A) Identifying broadband service providers that provide service within or near the geographic area that would be benefited by a project proposed by an eligible applicant; and
(B) Notifying the identified broadband service providers of the pending application;
(c) Standards for the department to evaluate applications from eligible applicants;
(d) Criteria and procedures for broadband service providers to engage in a competitive bidding process for contracts to complete projects pursuant to a grant or loan awarded under the program;
(e) Reporting requirements by grant or loan award recipients on the broadband service infrastructure developed or planned for using grant or loan moneys and the locations served or that will be served by the broadband service infrastructure;
(f) A public process for interested persons to submit comments on pending applications;
(g) A process for appealing grant or loan decisions by the department; and
(h) Procedures to ensure that any records or data submitted to the department pursuant to administration of the program that relate to broadband, voice connections or subscriptions and that are confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure are not disclosed, except as permitted by state and federal law.
(4) In making broadband service infrastructure grant or loan award decisions under the program, the department shall apply the following preferences:
(a) Regarding the geographic area that a proposed project will serve, the department shall:
(A) Give first preference to proposed projects that will serve unserved areas; and
(B) Give second preference to proposed projects that will serve underserved areas.
(b) Regarding the customers that a proposed project will serve, the department shall:
(A) Give first preference to proposed projects that are eligible to receive funds from the Connecting Oregon Schools Fund established under ORS 276A.424;
(B) Give second preference to proposed projects that will provide broadband service access to public libraries; and
(C) Give third preference to proposed projects that will provide broadband service access to residential customers.
(5) The department shall, as part of the program, establish procedures for distributing grant or loan funds awarded for the purpose of providing broadband access to schools. Procedures established under this subsection shall include procedures for transferring not more than 20 percent of the moneys deposited in the Broadband Fund established under section 4 of this 2020 special session Act each biennium from the Broadband Fund to the Connecting Oregon Schools Fund established under ORS 276A.424.
(6) The department may not award a grant or loan under the program for a proposed project to:
(a) Develop broadband service infrastructure to serve residential locations that, at the time the application for the proposed project is received by the department, have access to terrestrial wireline or wireless broadband service at a speed of at least 25 megabits per second for downloads and three megabits per second for uploads; or
(b) Develop broadband service infrastructure that will serve two or fewer residential locations.
(7)(a) If the department awards a grant or loan for a proposed project to develop broadband service infrastructure that will serve nonresidential locations that, at the time the application for the proposed project was received by the department, were served by terrestrial wireline or wireless broadband service at a speed of at least 25 megabits per second for downloads and three megabits per second for uploads, the broadband service providers identified pursuant to rules adopted under subsection (3)(b) of this section shall be afforded a right of first refusal to contract for the development of broadband service infrastructure as part of the project. If a broadband service provider exercises the right of first refusal, the provider shall be awarded the contract to develop broadband service infrastructure as part of the project, subject to the requirement that the provider must offer access to the completed broadband service infrastructure:
(A) Beginning no later than one year after the date that the department awards the grant or loan to develop the proposed project;
(B) At demonstrated download and upload speeds equal to or faster than the speeds indicated in the application for the proposed project; and
(C) At a cost that is equal to or less than the cost indicated in the application for the proposed project.
(b) This subsection does not apply to a grant or loan award for a proposed project described in subsection (4)(b) of this section. [2020 s.s.1 c.17 §5]
Sec. 6. (1) Not later than September 15 of each year, the Oregon Business Development Department shall report, in the manner provided in ORS 192.245, to an interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to telecommunications on the status of the Broadband Fund established under section 4 of this 2020 special session Act. The report required by this section shall include a description of:
(a) All loans and grants provided through the program adopted under section 5 of this 2020 special session Act; and
(b) The status of the projects funded by the loans and grants.
(2) In addition to the information required in the report under subsection (1) of this section, the report submitted on or before September 15, 2024, by the department pursuant to this section shall include an evaluation of the continuing need for the Broadband Fund, including but not limited to recommendations regarding the repeal, by section 9 of this 2020 special session Act, of the Broadband Fund and the program adopted under section 5 of this 2020 special session Act. [2020 s.s.1 c.17 §6]
Sec. 9. (1) Sections 4, 5 and 6 of this 2020 special session Act are repealed on January 2, 2030.
(2) Any moneys in the Broadband Fund established under section 4 of this 2020 special session Act that are unexpended and unobligated on January 2, 2030, revert to the universal service fund established under ORS 759.425. [2020 s.s.1 c.17 §9]