The following contents list selected legislation related to broadband discussed at past meetings of the Monadnock Broadband Group. Visit the links below to learn more.

Proposed New Hampshire Legislation

Senate Bill 457: establishing communications districts

Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee Public Hearing: 3/11/20 at 9:00 a.m. (LOB 102)

Senate Bill 459: relative to determining access to broadband

Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee Public Hearing: 3/11/20 at 9:30 a.m. (LOB 102) 

Senate Bill 559: relative to municipal broadband infrastructure bonds

Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee Public Hearing: 3/11/20 at 10:00 a.m. (LOB 102)

Proposed Federal Legislation

S.2867 - Rural Broadband Investment Tax Credit Act: This bill allows a new tax credit for up to 10% of investment in qualifying broadband projects, subject to specified limitations. The bill includes in the definition of "qualifying broadband project" any project that is designed solely to provide broadband service to one or more rural areas in which more than 50% of households lack access to adequate broadband service.

S.2866 - Rural Broadband Financial Flexibility Act: This bill allows the use of tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance qualified broadband projects. A "qualified broadband project" is any project that is designed solely to provide broadband service to one or more rural areas in which more than 50% of residential households do not have access to adequate broadband service. The bill also allows direct payments to issuers of broadband infrastructure bonds for 35% of the interest payable under such bonds.

S.1515 - Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act of 2019: This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish a national standard—informed by data gathered on broadband service in the 20 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States—to determine whether the broadband service available in rural areas is reasonably comparable to that of urban areas.

S.1822 - Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act: This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change the way broadband data is collected, verified, and reported.

Specifically, the FCC must collect and disseminate granular broadband service availability data (broadband maps) from wired, fixed-wireless, satellite, and mobile broadband providers. To do this, the FCC is required to establish the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (a dataset of geocoded information for all broadband service locations, atop which broadband maps are overlaid) as the vehicle for reporting broadband service availability data.

Additionally, the FCC must put forth specified requirements for service availability data collected from broadband providers, and it must create a challenge process to enable the submission of independent data challenging the accuracy of FCC broadband maps.

The Government Accountability Office must report on identified locations where fixed broadband can be installed to improve the quality and completeness of data sources for the fabric.

Adopted New Hampshire Legislation

Senate Bill 103 (2019): authorizing municipalities to engage in multi-town bonding projects

Senate Bill 170 (2018): relative to the authority of towns to issue bonds for the expansion of broadband infrastructure