§ 143b-1373

\n(a) As used in this section, the following definitions apply:\n(1) Agriculture. – Activities defined in G.S. 106-581.1.\n(2) Broadband service. – For the purposes of this section, terrestrially deployed Internet access service with transmission speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and at least 3 megabits per second upload (25:3).\n(2a) Business. – Any lawful trade, investment, or other purpose or activity, whether or not conducted or undertaken for profit. The term also includes community anchor points, agricultural operations, and agricultural processing facilities.\n(3) Coastal Plain Region. – The portion of the State lying east of the eastern boundaries of Franklin, Lee, Moore, Wake, and Warren Counties.\n(4) Cooperative. – An electric membership corporation, organized pursuant to Article 2 of Chapter 117 of the General Statutes, or a telephone membership corporation, organized pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 117 of the General Statutes.\n(5) Eligible economically distressed area. – A county designated as a development tier one or tier two area, as defined in G.S.

rganized pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 117 of the General Statutes.\n(5) Eligible economically distressed area. – A county designated as a development tier one or tier two area, as defined in G.S. 143B-437.08, or a rural census tract, as defined in G.S. 143B-472.127(a)(2), located in any other county. For the purposes of this section, the tier designation that is in effect as of the beginning of a fiscal year shall be applied for all grants awarded for that fiscal year.\n(6) Eligible project. – An eligible project is a discrete and specific project located in an unserved economically distressed area seeking to provide broadband service to homes, businesses, and community anchor points not currently served. Eligible projects do not include middle mile, backhaul, and other similar projects not directed at broadband service to end users. If a contiguous project area crosses from one eligible county into one or more eligible adjacent counties, for the purposes of this section, the project shall be deemed to be located in the county where the greatest number of unserved households are proposed to be served.\n(7) Eligible recipient.

ounties, for the purposes of this section, the project shall be deemed to be located in the county where the greatest number of unserved households are proposed to be served.\n(7) Eligible recipient. – Eligible grant recipients are private providers of broadband services, including cooperatively organized entities, or any partnerships formed between cooperatively organized entities, private providers, or any combination thereof.\n(8) Household. – A house, apartment, single room, or other group of rooms, if occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters, and where the occupants do not live with any other persons in the structure and there is direct access from the outside or through a common hall.\n(8a) Infrastructure. – Existing facilities, equipment, materials, and structures that an entity has installed either for its core business or public enterprise purposes. Examples include, but are not limited to, copper wire, coaxial cable, optical cable, loose tube cable, communication huts, conduits, vaults, patch panels, mounting hardware, poles, generators, battery and cabinet, network nodes, network routers, network switches, microwave relay, microwave receivers, site

unication huts, conduits, vaults, patch panels, mounting hardware, poles, generators, battery and cabinet, network nodes, network routers, network switches, microwave relay, microwave receivers, site routers, outdoor cabinets, towers, easements, rights-of-way, and buildings or structures owned by the entity that are made available for location or collocation purposes.\n(9) Infrastructure costs. – Costs directly related to the construction of broadband infrastructure for the extension of broadband service for an eligible project, including installation, acquiring or updating easements, backhaul infrastructure, and testing costs. The term also includes engineering and any other costs associated with securing a lease to locate or collocate infrastructure on public or private property or structures, but not including the actual monthly lease payment. The term does not include overhead or administrative costs.\n(10) Mountain Region. – The portion of the State lying west of and including Alleghany, Burke, Caldwell, Rutherford, and Wilkes Counties.\n(11) Office. – The Broadband Infrastructure Office in the Department of Information Technology.\n(11a) Partnership.

west of and including Alleghany, Burke, Caldwell, Rutherford, and Wilkes Counties.\n(11) Office. – The Broadband Infrastructure Office in the Department of Information Technology.\n(11a) Partnership. – A project for which an Internet service provider affirms that a formalized agreement exists between the provider and one or more unaffiliated partners where the partner is one of the following:\na. A separate Internet service provider.\nb. A nonprofit or not-for-profit, or a for-profit subsidiary of either, and the Internet service provider is being allowed access and use of the partner's infrastructure, on special terms and conditions designed to facilitate the provision of broadband services in unserved areas, or is utilizing a financial contribution provided by one or more partners where the total contribution is not less than ten percent (10%), but not more than forty-nine percent (49%), of the match required by this section. A county that is not engaged in providing consumer broadband service may qualify as a nonprofit for the purpose of this section.\n(12) Piedmont Region. – The portion of the State lying west of and including Franklin, Lee, Moore, Richmond, Wake, and Warren

band service may qualify as a nonprofit for the purpose of this section.\n(12) Piedmont Region. – The portion of the State lying west of and including Franklin, Lee, Moore, Richmond, Wake, and Warren Counties, to the eastern boundaries of Alleghany, Burke, Caldwell, Rutherford, and Wilkes Counties.\n(12a) Prospective broadband recipient. – A household, home, business, community anchor point, agricultural operation, or agricultural processing facility that is currently unserved and is identified in an application submitted in accordance with this section.\n(13) Secretary. – The Secretary of the Department of Information Technology.\n(14) Unserved area. – A designated geographic area that is presently without access to broadband service, as defined in this section, offered by a wireline or fixed wireless provider. Areas where a private provider has been designated to receive funds through other State- or federally funded programs designed specifically for broadband deployment shall be considered served if such funding is intended to result in construction of broadband in the area within 18 months or for the duration of the federal funding program for that area, or if the funding

e considered served if such funding is intended to result in construction of broadband in the area within 18 months or for the duration of the federal funding program for that area, or if the funding recipient is otherwise in good standing with the funding agency's regulations governing the funding program.\n(15) Unserved household or business. – A household or business that does not presently have access to broadband service, as defined in this subsection.\n(b) The Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology Fund is established as a special revenue fund in the Department of Information Technology. The Secretary may award grants from the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology Fund to eligible recipients for eligible projects. The funds shall be used by the recipient to pay for infrastructure costs associated with an eligible project. State funds appropriated to this Fund shall be considered an information technology project within the meaning of G.S. 143C-1-2.\n(c) A private provider receiving State or federal funds to deploy broadband service in unserved areas may qualify such area for protection by submitting a listing of the census blocks, or portions thereof,

private provider receiving State or federal funds to deploy broadband service in unserved areas may qualify such area for protection by submitting a listing of the census blocks, or portions thereof, comprising the State- or federally funded project areas in a manner prescribed by the Office. The Office shall only utilize this data to update maps of census blocks to reflect these census blocks, or portions thereof, as being served. Failure on the part of a provider to submit the listing of census blocks by the cutoff date shall result in those areas being eligible for inclusion under this program during subsequent program years. The Office shall use the census block data provided only for mapping of unserved areas. A project area shall remain protected for a period of 18 months from the submission of the listing information required under this subsection; provided, however, a private provider that has received protection for a project area shall submit written documentation by April 30 of the year following the program year that broadband deployment has begun or been completed, or is otherwise in good standing, in the census blocks, or portions thereof, that have been deemed

ril 30 of the year following the program year that broadband deployment has begun or been completed, or is otherwise in good standing, in the census blocks, or portions thereof, that have been deemed ineligible by the Office under this subsection. Upon submission of documentation satisfactory to the Office, a protected project area shall remain protected until project completion. A project area where a private provider has forfeited or otherwise defaulted on an agreement in connection with receipt of funds to deploy broadband service shall be eligible for inclusion in this program in subsequent program years. Information provided to the Office pursuant to this subsection is not a public record, as that term is defined in G.S. 132-1.\n(d) Applications for grants will be submitted at times designated by the Secretary and will include, at a minimum, the following information:\n(1) An attestation to the Office that the proposed project area is eligible.\n(2) The identity of the applicant and its qualifications and experience with deployment of broadband.\n(3) The total cost and duration of the project.\n(4) The amount to be funded by the applicant.\n(5) An illustration or description

and its qualifications and experience with deployment of broadband.\n(3) The total cost and duration of the project.\n(4) The amount to be funded by the applicant.\n(5) An illustration or description of the area to be served, identifying the number of homes and businesses that will have access to broadband as a result of the project, including any available addresses, or other identifying information satisfactory to the Office, for the foregoing. In the event that the Office is unable to identify the proposed project area with specificity, the Office may require the applicant to submit additional information. If construction of the proposed project would result in the provision of broadband service to areas that are not eligible for funding, those ineligible areas should be identified in the application along with the eligible areas.\n(6) An assessment of the current level of broadband access in the proposed deployment area.\n(7) The proposed construction time line.\n(8) A description of the services to be provided, including the proposed upstream and downstream broadband speeds to be delivered and any applicable data caps, provided that any applicant proposing a data cap below

on of the services to be provided, including the proposed upstream and downstream broadband speeds to be delivered and any applicable data caps, provided that any applicant proposing a data cap below 150 Gigabytes of usage per month shall provide justification to the satisfaction of the Office that the proposed cap is in the public interest and consistent with industry standards.\n(9) Any other information or supplementary documentation requested by the Office.\n(10) A plan to encourage users to connect that incorporates, at a minimum, community education forums, multimedia advertising, and marketing programs.\n(11) For the proposed area to be served, the infrastructure cost per household or business for the project.\n(12) Evidence of support for the project from citizens, local government, businesses, and institutions in the community.\n(13) The proposed advertised speed to be marketed to end users.\n(14) An explanation of the scalability of the broadband infrastructure to be deployed for higher broadband speeds in the future.\n(d1) An application submitted pursuant to this section shall include a project area map that provides location-specific data in a format required by the

ed for higher broadband speeds in the future.\n(d1) An application submitted pursuant to this section shall include a project area map that provides location-specific data in a format required by the Office. A provider submitting an application pursuant to this section shall bear the burden of proof that the proposed area to be served can, in fact, be served using the proposed technology. The burden of proof may be satisfied by the submission of data, maps, and any other information satisfactory to the Office, demonstrating that the area and number of prospective broadband recipients proposed to be served can be provided the minimum upload and download speeds indicated in the application.\n(e) Applications shall be made publicly available by posting on the Web site of the Department of Information Technology for a period of at least 20 days prior to award. During the 20-day period, any interested party may submit comments to the Secretary concerning any pending application. A broadband service provider currently providing broadband service in a project area proposed in an application may submit a protest of any application on the grounds the proposed project covers an area that is

service provider currently providing broadband service in a project area proposed in an application may submit a protest of any application on the grounds the proposed project covers an area that is a protected area under subsection (c) of this section, or that the proposed project area contains ten percent (10%) or more of total households with access to broadband service as defined in this section. Protests shall be submitted in writing, accompanied by all credible and relevant supporting documentation, including specific addresses, and detailed mapping demonstrating that the protesting broadband provider has installed infrastructure sufficient to provide broadband service to the specific addresses provided in the protest, along with an attestation that broadband service is available in the public right-of-way at the specific addresses indicated. The protest shall be considered by the Office in connection with the review of the application. Upon submission of evidence satisfactory to the Office that the proposed project area includes a protected area or prospective broadband recipients that are presently served, as measured using a methodology satisfactory to the Office, the

y to the Office that the proposed project area includes a protected area or prospective broadband recipients that are presently served, as measured using a methodology satisfactory to the Office, the Office may work with an applicant to amend an application to reduce the number of unserved prospective broadband recipients in the project area to reflect an accurate level of current broadband service. The Office may revise application scores in accordance with amended applications; however, the Office may reject any amended application resulting in a lower application score to the extent that the lower score would have impacted the ranking of the application in the initial scoring process. For applications with filed protests, the Secretary shall issue a written decision to the protesting party at least 15 days prior to the approval of that application. Following a protest that is granted for a portion of the application, the Office may release to an applicant the locations or areas declared ineligible. The information released to the applicant is not a public record, as that term is defined under G.S. 132-1, and shall remain confidential.

to an applicant the locations or areas declared ineligible. The information released to the applicant is not a public record, as that term is defined under G.S. 132-1, and shall remain confidential. Any provider submitting a protest shall verify that the information in the protest is accurate and that the protest is submitted in good faith. The Office may deny any protest or application that contains inaccurate information.\nAs a means of resolving a protest, the Office may utilize speed tests to determine if the protested area or individual households or businesses currently have access to broadband service as defined in this section. The Department shall publish the speed test methodology it uses to assess speed levels pursuant to this section. All decisions regarding the speed test to be utilized and the manner by which the speed tests are applied shall be made by the Secretary or the Secretary's designee.\n(f) The Office may consult with the Department of Commerce to determine if a broadband project proposed under this section will benefit a potential economic development project relevant to the proposed area outlined in the broadband project.\n(g) Applications shall be

ne if a broadband project proposed under this section will benefit a potential economic development project relevant to the proposed area outlined in the broadband project.\n(g) Applications shall be scored based upon a system that awards a single point for criteria considered to be the minimum level for the provision of broadband service with additional points awarded to criteria that exceed minimum levels. The Office shall score project applications in accordance with the following:\n(1) Partnership. – Projects proposing a partnership shall be given points in their application score. A proposed partnership shall (i) be in writing, (ii) provide the specific terms and conditions of the partnership, and (iii) be signed and attested to by the parties. A county or nonprofit may enter into proposed agreements with more than one applicant. For the purposes of scoring under this subdivision, one point shall be given for a proposed partnership that will make available existing infrastructure that has been installed for the partner's enterprise, nonconsumer broadband purposes, or any other property, buildings, or structures owned by the partner, for a proposed project under this section.

that has been installed for the partner's enterprise, nonconsumer broadband purposes, or any other property, buildings, or structures owned by the partner, for a proposed project under this section. A county or nonprofit entity that proposes to provide a financial match shall be given one point. Notwithstanding Article 8 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes, or any provision of law to the contrary, a county may use unrestricted general funds or federal funding allocated to it for the purpose of improving broadband infrastructure for a financial match. Funds received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act