The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 30 : Public Service

Chapter 091A : Vermont Community Broadband Board

• § 8089. Annual report

  (a) Notwithstanding 2 V.S.A. § 20(d), on or before January 15 of each year, the Board shall submit a report of its activities pursuant to this chapter for the preceding year to the Senate Committees on Finance and on Natural Resources and Energy, the House Committee on Environment and Energy, and the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee. The report shall include an operating and financial statement covering the Board’s operations during the year, including a summary of all grant awards and contracts and agreements entered into by the Board. In addition, the report shall include a description of the progress each start-up communications union district has made in achieving long-term financial sustainability that is not dependent upon public funding, an update on its efforts to secure additional federal funds for broadband deployment, and progress made towards meeting the State’s goal of ensuring every E-911 location has access to broadband capable of delivering a minimum of 100 Mbps symmetrical service as required in subdivision 202c(b)(10) of this title.

  (b) As part of its first annual report, the Board shall include recommended legislation for policies and programs not authorized under this chapter but consistent with its purpose or for any other policies and programs it deems appropriate. The report shall include recommendations concerning increased access to and use of fiber-optic networks owned by the State or by an electric distribution utility in furtherance of the goals of this chapter. In addition, and with input from relevant stakeholders, the Board shall make recommendations on whether and to what extent authorized expenditures under the Fund should be expanded to include:

  (1) funding for equipment replacement in the Department of Libraries’ FiberConnect Network;

  (2) funding for building-wide Wi-Fi installations at multi-unit affordable housing owned by nonprofits and housing authorities for the purpose of providing free broadband service to the residents thereof;

  (3) funding for digital inclusion efforts, such as subsidized customer equipment installations and broadband service, grants for long-term affordability planning, and outreach and digital literacy training;

  (4) funding for co-worker spaces;

  (5) additional funding for communications workforce development initiatives; and

  (6) funding for any other broadband programs or initiatives. (Added 2021, No. 71, § 2, eff. June 8, 2021.)