Broadband Legislation


Please navigate below to view a summary or check the status and recent updates of Broadband bills monitored by FAC.

Sponsor: Hooper/Esposito

Status: Monitor  

To view the latest bill
actions, see below:

SB 552

HB 1437

 

  • Provides a public records exemption for information relating to communications services locations, project proposals, and challenges submitted to the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) under the Broadband Opportunity Program and any federal broadband access grant program implemented by DEO. This public records exemption includes: the location or capacity of communications network facilities; Communications network areas, including geographical maps indicating actual or proposed locations of network infrastructure or facilities; The features, functions, and capabilities of communications network infrastructure and facilities; Security, including cybersecurity, of the design, construction, and operation of the communications network and associated services and products; Specific customer locations; Sources of funding or in-kind contributions for a project. This exemption does not apply to any required functions of the department under s. 288.9962 relating to publishing reports. Effective Date: 7/1/23  

Sponsor: DiCeglie/Tomkow

Status: Monitor  

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actions, see below:

  • Currently, five rural electric cooperatives in Florida are implementing broadband expansion projects to deliver affordable, reliable high-speed internet to the most rural counties in the state. Rural Cooperatives must deliver services to all members. The bill seeks to amend s. 425.04, F.S., regarding the powers of rural electric cooperatives, to specify that such cooperatives have the power to engage in the provision of broadband service. The bill also creates a new s. 364.391, F.S., which requires that if a cooperative engages in the provision of broadband service: All poles owned by that cooperative are subject to pole attachment regulation by the Public Service Commission (PSC) under 366.04(8), F.S., as if the cooperative was a public utility; and The PSC may access the books and records of the cooperative for the limited purpose of exercising its pole regulatory authority. Such records would be subject to the same confidentiality protection procedures as other records utilized in PSC proceedings.  The bill also provides that the rural electric cooperative pole attachment regulatory authority established pursuant to the bill may not be construed to impair the contract rights of a party to a valid rural electric cooperative pole attachment agreement in existence before July 1, 2023. Effective Date: 7/1/23  

 

Sponsor: Stark/DiCeglie 

Status: Monitor  

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actions, see below:

HB 847

SB 1082

  • Revises the ERP permitting exemption for certain floating structures by creating a presumption of compliance with any requirement to minimize adverse environmental impacts for structures that are associated with a dock on a parcel of land where there is no other docking structure.  For purposes of the ERP permitting exemption for floating structures, the bill specifies that the term “local government” includes a charter county, a county that is required to implement a manatee protection plan, or a county or municipality that establishes and administers a local pollution control program. Effective Date: July 1, 2023 

  Sponsor: Yarkosky/Avila

Status: Monitor

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actions, see below:

HB 7001

SB 7006

  • Amending a provision which provides an exemption from public records requirements for certain information held by an agency relating to the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network; removing the scheduled repeal of the exemption, etc. Effective Date: 10/1/2023