Broadband Stimulus Notes
To speed review of proposals and release of broadband stimulus funds, the NTIA and the RUS should rely on states as consultants, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners said on Friday. “The states can facilitate this review process and perhaps allow both agencies to release funds much sooner … without state assistance, even with the current schedule, it will be almost impossible to efficiently review the anticipated thousands of applications most predict both will receive, much less rank the proposals according to ARRA-specified criteria, disburse the funds, and monitor grant specific implementations,” NARUC said in a letter to the FCC, and the Agriculture and Commerce Departments. The stimulus law favors projects that can begin immediately, but word that funds likely will be released at year-end has had “an unfortunate and undoubtedly unforeseen unfair impact on grant proposals,” the group said. NARUC urged that, as the stimulus law stipulates, the NTIA and the RUS “[1] allow each State to review and provide a preliminary ranking of applications submitted to provide service in that State and [2] give significant weight to those recommendations.” The group invoked states’ “intimate” familiarity with their own communications, economic environment, geography, and demographics, saying states have “every incentive” to avoid waste. Governors should specify entities to review and rank all applications for projects in their jurisdictions, using NTIA and RUS criteria, NARUC said. ----
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Broadband projects would get financing under a bill proposing a national infrastructure development bank announced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. The bank would direct public and private dollars toward infrastructure projects including telecom, similar to the European Investment Bank, DeLauro said in announcing the bill. The bank would start with $5 billion annually for five years, and make at most $250 billion in total capital available, said DeLauro, who chairs the House Appropriations Rural Development Subcommittee. The bill proposes that the bank have a board of directors to make final infrastructure financing determinations, an executive committee to handle day-to-day operations and an audit committee to oversee operations. The board could issue “public benefit” bonds, loans and loan guarantees and buy and sell infrastructure loans and security on the global capital market. ----
Pennsylvania is to hold the last of four public meetings in Harrisburg Wednesday to discuss how best to use federal broadband stimulus money, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell said. The state has a law calling for extending broadband throughout Pennsylvania by 2015. Its Office of Administration and Department of Community and Economic Development, which organized the meeting, hope federal money can make it happen faster.