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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
department of agriculture; application review
Purpose
Allows an applicant for the Rural E-Connectivity Pilot Program to request the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) to review their application for accuracy.
Background
The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 established the Rural E-Connectivity Pilot Program (Program) to facilitate broadband development in rural areas. Broadband service is any technology with the capacity to transmit data to enable a subscriber to the service to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics and video. Congress appropriated $600 million to the Rural Utilities Service for the Program.
States, local governments, Indian tribes, non-profit and for-profit entities, limited liability companies and cooperative or mutual organizations are eligible to apply to the Program. To qualify, the rural area must not have sufficient access to broadband, which is fixed, terrestrial broadband service delivering at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Allows a person who is eligible to apply for funding from the Program to request the AZDA to review the person's application for accuracy.
2. Prohibits the AZDA from denying a request for application review.
3. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
LAG 2/21/19 DP 6-0-0-1
3rd Read 2/28/19 60-0-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 12, 2019
KN/LD/gs