By RUSTY MARKS
The State Journal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Delegate Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, previewed a broadband expansion bill Thursday, March 16 that would give rural communities and municipalities extra tools to bring high-speed internet to their areas.
House Bill 3093 is expected to be taken up in the House judiciary committee on Friday. Hanshaw, who co-chairs the committee, provided some of the details of the plan at a public unveiling Thursday in the chambers of the House of Delegates.
The bill would provide for more accurate mapping of broadband service areas in West Virginia, clarify and enhance the duties of the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council and allow communities to join together to set up co-ops to extend broadband service to their areas, Hanshaw said.
“More data is always better,” Hanshaw said. Consumer or other input into the database would be voluntary, he said, and individual names of those providing information would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
The bill also would provide a framework for groups of 20 or more individuals, businesses, organizations or a combination to form an internet cooperative to help extend service to unserved areas, Hanshaw said. The co-ops would be eligible for United States Department of Agriculture grant money to help fund expansion.
The bill also would create a pilot program to allow municipalities to team up to extend broadband service.
Hanshaw said the Broadband Council, set up by the Legislature in 2015, would be made the “conduit” for data collection and the flow of information about broadband service, and would serve as a think tank on broadband policy under the provisions of the bill.
Other provisions of the bill would expedite the process of hooking up to existing utility poles and allow for owners of rights-of-way to donate their use for running broadband conduit. Such rights-of-way might include old railroad easements or pipeline easements, Hanshaw said.
“It makes sense that some of our unused rights-of-way that aren’t utilized right now could be used for that purpose,” he said.
Advertising requirements also would be changed under provisions of the bill. Instead of being allowed to advertise internet speeds of up to a certain point, internet service providers would instead have to tell customers what minimum internet speeds they can expect, Hanshaw said.
Hanshaw said the broadband bill was put together using some of the ideas from the office of U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who helped start a congressional broadband caucus to figure out ways to bring high-speed internet to rural areas of the country.
A public hearing on House Bill 3093 is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Friday.
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