Legislative Session number- 82

Bill Name: SF3205

E Establishing a public telecommunications services account to provide support
for various public telecommunication networks; imposing an access fee on
telecommunications services sales, requiring the commissioner of revenue to
collect and deposit fee revenues in the account, fee to terminate on the
effective date of the creation of a universal service fund by the public
utilities commission (PUC) or the legislature; requiring funding of the learning
network formerly funded through the higher education services office (HESO), the
school districts telecommunication access revenue program and regional library
telecommunication aid; requiring the Minnesota education telecommunications
council to develop a specific integrated funding plan consistent with the
recommended regional distribution method presented to the legislature by the
permanent funding committee, requiring the council to submit the plan to the
legislature by a certain date; requiring entities receiving funding and eligible
for federal telecommunication aid or discounts to apply for the maximum
available federal funding to be used to reduce state aid; requiring commissioner
of administration grants from the account, prohibiting management or operation
of the programs funded by the grants and requiring consultation with the
Minnesota education telecommunications council before making grant decisions
relating to education networks; specifying certain cost reductions and
performance improvements requirements; regulating the funding of connection
costs; requiring commissioner grants to fund hospital emergency communications
networks upon funding availability, authorizing the use of initial grants for
equipment and connection charges, requiring use of subsequent grants for
connection costs, requiring applications to be submitted by regional hospital
groups and requiring the commissioner to ensure the interoperability of networks
among hospitals with the learning network; requiring establishment of an
application procedure and awarding of the grants with the advice of the
commissioner of health and the technology enterprise board; specifying a grant
limit and certain network requirements; authorizing use of the grants to upgrade
existing systems; reducing the base level funding for regional library basic
system support grants and setting the base level funding and eliminating the
expiration date for regional library telecommunications aid; appropriating money
in the account to the commissioner of children, families and learning for the
telecommunications access revenue program and for regional library
telecommunications aid (ra, ja)