BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
AB 2172 - Levine Hearing Date:
June 22, 2004 A
As Amended: June 16, 2004 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law allows the Director of the Department of General
Services (DGS) to lease DGS-managed property to cellular
telephone companies, allowing them to put wireless towers on top
of buildings and on state property (except for property owned by
Caltrans). Money from those leases is deposited into the fund
which was used to buy the DGS-managed property.
Current law authorizes the Legislature to appropriate 15% of the
money from those leases described above to the Digital Divide
Account, which is a subaccount of the California Teleconnect
Fund Administrative Committee Fund (CFFACF). Monies in the
Digital Divide Account are available to finance digital divide
projects through the Digital Divide Grant Program, as specified,
upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Current law requires grant funds to be awarded to
community-based nonprofit organizations that are exempt from
taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
This bill changes the accounting by requiring that 15% of the
lease money be deposited directly into the Digital Divide
Account, now renamed the Digital Opportunities Account, but
doesn't otherwise alter the applicability of the 15% or the
requirement for appropriation. The remaining 85% is deposited
into the fund which was used to buy the DGS-managed property, as
is required today.
This bill allows the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) to pay for the administration of the Digital
Opportunities Grant Program out of the CTFACF.
This bill narrows the field of eligible grant recipients to
those who run a nonprofit technology program, which is defined
as a community-based nonprofit organization that is exempt from
taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
and engages in diffusing technology into local communities and
training local communities that have no access to, or have
limited access to, the Internet and other technologies and are
located in underserved areas.
This bill specifies that programs eligible for the grants
include community programs that provide employment training and
skills.
This bill adds legislative findings, among them that access
through the Internet to governmental services and educational
programs can provide a cost-effective method of service
delivery.
This bill also makes numerous non-substantial changes to the
Digital Divide Grant Program, now renamed the Digital
Opportunities Grant Program.
BACKGROUND
Last year, AB 855 (Firebaugh), Chapter 820, Statutes of 2003,
created a program to facilitate the use of non-Caltrans state
property by cellular telephone companies. This program set
aside 15% of most new lease revenue for a grant program to pay
for digital divide projects. That program is administered by
the CPUC in conjunction with the CPUC's existing California
Teleconnect Fund, a program which discounts telecommunications
rates to schools, libraries, health care institutions, and
qualified community-based organizations.
COMMENTS
1.Making Fewer, Though Perhaps More Needy, Programs Eligible For
Grants . Under current law, grant funds are awarded on a
competitive basis subject to criteria set by the CPUC. The
grants must be distributed widely, including urban and rural
areas, and a recipient must be a community-based nonprofit
organizations that's exempt from taxation under Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
This measure makes fewer entities eligible for grants by
stating an eligible recipient must, in addition to being a
nonprofit 501(c)(3), also run a nonprofit technology program
that diffuses technology into local communities and trains
local communities that have no access, or have limited access,
to the Internet and other technologies and are located in
underserved areas.
2.Keeping administrative costs at 5%. This bill permits the
administrative cost of the Digital Opportunities Grant Program
to come from the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative
Committee Fund (CTFACF). However, in order to be consistent
with the current law requirement to keep administrative costs
for the program at or below 5%, the bill requires any CTFACF
money used to cover administrative costs to be counted toward
the 5% cap on administrative costs for the program.
3.Prior Hearing. This bill was heard in this committee on June
8, 2004, but failed on a 3-2 vote (5 votes were needed for
passage). Reconsideration was granted. Since that hearing,
the bill has been amended to incorporate all of the amendments
- both technical and substantive - that were suggested in this
committee's analysis of the bill for the June 8 hearing.
PRIOR VOTES
Senate Energy, Utilities, & Communications Committee
(3-2) (failed passage)
Assembly Floor (76-0)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (19-0)
Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee
(12-0)
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
California Community Technology Policy Group
Oppose:
None on file
Randy Chinn
AB 2172 Analysis
Hearing Date: June 22, 2004