Bill Text: CA AB415 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Emergency Fairgrounds Communications Grant Act.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-5)
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB415 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB415-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 11, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 415
| Introduced by Assembly Member Rodriguez (Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Arambula, Bennett, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Flora, Hart, Mathis, Robert Rivas, Schiavo, Villapudua, Waldron, and Wood) |
February 02, 2023 |
An act to add Article 8.5 (commencing with Section 8601) to Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to emergency services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 415, as amended, Rodriguez.
Emergency Fairgrounds Communications Grant Act.
The Emergency Services Act establishes in state government, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state’s emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, as specified.
This bill would enact the Emergency Fairgrounds Communications Grant Act and would require, on or before January 1, 2025, the office to establish a grant program to provide fairgrounds with grant funding for the purpose of building and upgrading communication and internet infrastructure on fairgrounds. The bill would require the office to establish standards to determine the awarding of grant funding that award funding based on a fairground’s need for internet capabilities in order to service an emergency response operation. The bill would require those
standards to require, at a minimum, that a fairground receiving grant funds be located in an area with sufficient open-access middle-mile broadband infrastructure within a reasonable distance to support the fairground’s expanded broadband capabilities and be capable of providing public access to the fairground’s broadband network throughout the year. authorize the office to prioritize the order of grant disbursements based on prescribed criteria. The bill would also require the office to consult with the Department of Technology and the Department of Food and Agriculture to coordinate the statewide building and upgrading of communication and internet infrastructure on fairgrounds. The bill would provide that the program is operative only upon an appropriation by the Legislature for its purposes.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 8.5 (commencing with Section 8601) is added to Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:Article 8.5. Emergency Fairgrounds Communications Grant Program
8601.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Emergency Fairgrounds Communications Grant Act.8602.
For purposes of this article:(a) “Fairground” means a state-designated fair, as defined in Section 19418 of the Business and Professions Code.
(b) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services established pursuant to Section 8585.
8603.
(a) On or before January 1, 2025, the office shall establish a grant program to provide fairgrounds with grant funding for the purpose of building and upgrading communication and internet infrastructure on fairgrounds.(b) (1)The office shall establish standards to determine the awarding of grant funding that award funding based on a fairground’s need for internet capabilities in order to service an emergency response operation.
(2)The standards shall require, at a minimum, that a fairground receiving grant funds pursuant to this section meets both of the following criteria:
(A)The fairground is located in an area with sufficient open-access middle-mile broadband infrastructure within a reasonable distance to support the fairground’s expanded broadband capabilities.
(B)The fairground is capable of providing public access to the fairground’s broadband network throughout the year.
(c) The office may prioritize the order of grant disbursements based on any of the following criteria:
(1) The frequency in which fairgrounds are used as an emergency staging area, evacuation center, community resilience center, or other relevant emergency response site.
(2) The need to address an operational or response gap or other deficiency or problem that would be addressed through building and upgrading communication and internet infrastructure at a specific fairground.
(d) The office shall consult with the Department of Technology and the Department of Food and Agriculture to coordinate the statewide building and upgrading of communication and internet infrastructure on fairgrounds.
(e) This section shall become operative only upon an appropriation by the Legislature for the purposes of this section.
