Sunset Broadband Deployment

Sunset Process - House Transportation, Housing, and Local Government Committee. The "Connect Colorado to Enhance Economic Development, Telehealth, Education, and Safety Act" (act), which created the broadband deployment board (board) in the governor's office of information technology and tasked the board with awarding grant money from the high cost support mechanism (HCSM) for broadband deployment in unserved areas of the state, is scheduled for repeal on September 1, 2024. The department of regulatory agencies, as part of its sunset process, reviewed the act and board and recommended that they be extended for 5 years. The bill, instead, repeals the act and board, transfers the function of awarding grant money from the HCSM to the Colorado broadband office (office), and authorizes the office to award grants for unserved and underserved areas of the state, authorizes the chief information officer in the office of information technology to adopt rules regarding the grant program, and repeals the grant-making function of the office on September 1, 2030, subject to review by the department of regulatory agencies. The bill appropriates $525,393 for the 2024-25 state fiscal year from the broadband office administrative fund to the office of information technology in the governor's office and reduces cash fund appropriations to the office of information technology by $280,102.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)