1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to telecommunications; broadband; appropriating money from the general 
1.3 	fund to stimulate broadband infrastructure development; requiring a study.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. APPROPRIATION.
 1.6 	(a) $100,000,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner 
1.7 	of employment and economic development to award grants for the development of 
1.8 	broadband infrastructure and to supplement revenues raised by bonds sold by local units 
1.9 	of government for broadband infrastructure development. This appropriation does not 
1.10 	cancel to the general fund but remains available until expended.
1.11 	(b) Beginning in fiscal year 2015, the base budget of the Office of Broadband 
1.12 	Development established in Minnesota Statutes, section 116J.39, shall be $500,000. 
1.13 	$500,000 each year is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of 
1.14 	employment and economic development for the operation of the Office of Broadband 
1.15 	Development. This is an ongoing appropriation. The $500,000 appropriated in this 
1.16 	paragraph supersedes the $250,000 appropriated for the Office of Broadband Development 
1.17 	in Laws 2013, chapter 85, article 1, section 3, subdivision 2, paragraph (o), and that 
1.18 	appropriation is canceled.
1.19 	(c) $150,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 2014 from the general fund to the 
1.20 	commissioner of employment and economic development for a study of the feasibility of 
1.21 	creating a state fund designed to leverage private capital for the development of public 
1.22 	infrastructure projects, including broadband. This appropriation does not cancel, but 
1.23 	remains available until expended. The final report of the study must be submitted to the 
2.1 	chairs and ranking minority members of the senate and house committees with primary 
2.2 	jurisdiction over telecommunications by December 1, 2014.