(a) The commission shall develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies, consistent with this section and with the statements of intent in Section 2 of the Internet for All Now Act (Chapter 851 of the Statutes of 2017). (b) (1) (A) The goal of the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account is, no later than December 31, 2032, to approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98 percent of California households in each consortia region, as identified by the commission. The commission shall be responsible for achieving the goals of the program. (B) For purposes of the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account, both of the following definitions apply: (i) âMbpsâ means megabits per second. (ii) (I) Except as provided in subclause (II), âunserved areaâ means an area for which there is no facility-based broadband provider offering at least one tier of broadband service at speeds of at least 25 mbps downstream, 3 mbps upstream, and a latency that is sufficiently low to allow realtime interactive applications, considering updated federal and state broadband mapping data. (II) For projects funded, in whole or in part, from moneys received from the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, âunserved areaâ means an area in which no facility-based broadband provider offers broadband service at speeds consistent with the standards established by the Federal Communications Commission pursuant to In the Matter of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, WC Docket No. 19-126, Report and Order, FCC 20-5 (adopted January 30, 2020, and released February 7, 2020), or as it may be later modified by the Federal Communications Commission. (2) In approving infrastructure projects funded through the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account, the commission shall do both of the following: (A) Approve projects that provide last-mile broadband access to households that are unserved by an existing facility-based broadband provider. (B) (i) Prioritize projects in unserved areas where internet connectivity is available only at speeds at or below 10 mbps downstream and 1 mbps upstream or areas with no internet connectivity. (ii) This subparagraph does not prohibit the commission from approving funding for projects outside of the areas specified in clause (i). (3) Moneys appropriated for purposes of this section may be used to match or leverage federal moneys for communications infrastructure, digital equity, and adoption, including, but not limited to, moneys from the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture ReConnect Loan and Grant Program, and the Federal Communications Commission for communications infrastructure, digital equity, and adoption. (4) The commission shall transition California Advanced Services Fund program methodologies to provide service to serviceable locations and evaluate other program changes to align with other funding sources, including, but not limited to, funding locations. (5) The commission shall maximize investments in new, robust, and scalable infrastructure and use California Advanced Services Fund moneys to leverage federal and non-California Advanced Services Fund moneys by undertaking activities, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Providing technical assistance to local governments and providers. (B) Assisting in developing grant applications. (C) Assisting in preparing definitive plans for deploying necessary infrastructure in each county, including coordination across contiguous counties. (6) Moneys appropriated for purposes of this section may be used to fund projects that deploy broadband infrastructure to unserved nonresidential
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