The MN Broadband Task Force met today.  They heard from economic developers and about the legislative process. A recurring theme is BEAD funding and how can we prepare to optimize funding especially in areas that need it. An answer that prompts more questions is the BEAD challenge process. We did learn that Minnesota will be working with the consultants who also work with Washington State and Missouri. So they may offer some ideas. (It looks as if the Missouri challenge map isn’t up yet. I will look at both when I can.) The next Task Force meeting has been move to March 20.

10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. Welcome and Introductions, Teddy Bekele, Chair, Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on Broadband

10:05 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Approval of minutes from January 11th Task Force Meeting

10:10 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. Highlight AMC and the counties Legislative platforms Nathan Zacharias, Technology Policy Analyst

AMC (Association of MN Counties) provides service for county commissioners and staff. Broadband is a topic.

Policy positions this year: Fund the fund. We would support a broadband bill. Statewide speed goals. Protesting integrity of grant program in MN

St Louis County:

We work with AMC. We have someone on staff you does broadband work but not exclusively. St Louis is a large county. We have funded feasibility study and encouraged a local team to support and promote broadband. Funded $400,000 in infrastructure. Spent $75,000 in planning grants. Spent $1.36 in infrastructure grants; we have almost $2 million left.

Q: Low density grants don’t require a match – do the small townships need lower match?
Yes, That would be nice. We have been able to use IRRR for match but no match would be easier. Although some local skin in the game is helpful.

Q: Are there challenges beyond cost?
Cost and terrain are the issues. Also RDOF hurt us. That discouraged a lot of people. There is a lot of concern that fixed wireless won’t work in Northern MN with all of those trees.

Redwood County:

We’ve had a long journey. Was a Blandin Broadband Community in 2013. Did a feasibility study that said $62 million was needed to get broadband. It was too much to consider at the time but the pandemic renewed interest. We ranked 85 for broadband. Brianne is a one-person shop in Redwood. They got a Lead for America ACC (American Connection Corps) Fellow who worked full time for two years. Was part of the last Blandin Broadband program where they came up with a vision statement and that was hugely helpful. Worked with a primary broadband provider and created multiple projects with lots of negotiation. The have a website and deployed public information strategies including social media, local radio and more. We helped the local broadband provider apply (successfully) for border to border funding. Secured $1.9 million ARRA funds for the project. ACAM helped get service to some areas. Two providers stepped up to deploy fiber without our funding. By 2026, 90=95 percent of Redwood Falls will have FTTH. The ACC was key to our success.

Q: Is farming better now?
Our ag producers operate in townships. We didn’t have as much influence there – because those are ACAM areas. We did prompt folks to jump on the chance when they had it.

10:40 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. Overview of Minnesota’s Legislature and Timelines, Darielle Dannen, State Program Admin Manager

We’re in year two of the biennial, which means more policy than budget. Lots of work on a bonding bill and time to refine decisions made last year. It’s also a supplemental budget year, which means if revenue surpasses forecast, we can allocate it. (It’s not expected to be a large number.) Governor unveils budget then House and Senate follow – eventually.

Broadband has often been on the list for supplemental budget. That means it’s high profile. We can expect omnibus bills.

DEED has $1.8 billion as well as federal broadband resources (not included). This is an implementation session – more than new programs or funds. We think we might need to work on policy language for broadband to make is easy/possible to spend the federal funds.

Q: Is there a one-pager on broadband for the governor?
We’re working on it. Governor is coming out with recommendations later. We’ll do an update on broadband in capital investment and ag sessions.

11:20 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. Office of Broadband Report BEAD Update – Digital Opportunity Update from Diane Wells, Deputy Director, Office of Broadband Development

New employee, expert in GIS. Jen Frost now grant administrator. Sending more regular update via email.

BEAD: submitted volumes 1 and 2. On Dec 22. NTIA has identified areas for change – due on Tuesday. We want our program to align with state law, which means wireless access does not disqualify a community from grants. If that doesn’t work, we will work on putting burden of proof on the provider. So, this will take some time. There is some boiler place language for cell coverage but the issue is fixed wireless. We know there’s over-reporting and have more info.

Once Volume 1 is approved, we can start on challenge process. We don’t expect it to start until April. MO and Washington State are using same portal vendor as Minnesota will be using. So you can get a sneak peek there.

NTIA has new language on historic preservation review and responsibility getting shifted to the state. We are working on keeping those issues in DEED and not Historic Preservation office.

Digital Equity: need to cure digital opportunity plan and sent those in Feb 9. Hasn’t received info on capacity grants yet. We don’t know how much Minnesota might get. ACP registration ended Feb 7. Funds are expected to run out before May unless it receives more funds. It makes the business case more difficult now because it could impact take rate.

Connecting One Conference: limited to 300 people in Earle Brown conference center. Legislative session has begun. Bree will present to Ag House and Senate committees next week and capital investment later. Still reviewing Border to Border grants (half should get funded) and Lower population density awards (a quarter should get funded). They are planning a Tuesday permit webinar series.

Q: On BEAD, are other  state farther ahead?
LA is done. Kansas is closer to done.

Q: The challenge process is a point of interest in local communities. 30 days is not long enough for us to mobilize. How can we prepare?
We’re working to get the contract signed. The plan is that the vendor will help aggregate the info and bundle for challenges. Locally, you could be gathering a list of eligible addresses in your area to compare to maps when they do come out.

11:40 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Updates on Task Force Subgroups
Affordability & Digital Equity Meeting from Speaker: Brain Hood, Fond du Lac Communications
They met. Topic was ACP. It impacts 30 percent of Brian’s customers. They worked hard to get folks signed up and now they have to give bad news.

Mapping, Funding, and Policy from Speaker: Daniel Lightfoot, League of Minnesota Cities
They met. Mutual desire to support funding at state and federal level. Workforce recruitment is important. Talked about speed goals and need to adjust. Definition of wireline is important. Want to talk about grant application scoring and match. We need to find a way to enhance resources for map challenges. We need to invest in capacity.

Economic Opportunity & Workforce from Speaker: Adam Hutchens, Laborers’ International Union of North America
They met. Had tech issues. Going to look at speaker similar to ACM. Want to hear from folks who don’t have the broadband they need to grow. Want to talk to past grant recipients.

Questions or comments?

Q; Barbara Droher Kline: Metronet didn’t bid on line extension grants in Le Sueur because it’s requires ACP adherence. But with precarious position of ACP hard to agree to an unknown requirement.
A: It’s a federal requirement and she’s right and that’s an issue of the unknown.

Next meeting moved to March 20!