The MN Broadband Task Force met at Black Bear Casino (near Fond du Lac reservation) and online today. There was a lot of talk about federal and state funding and where the Office of Broadband is in process of each.
There was also a brief discussion on bills being discussed in the Legislature now (SF4262/HF4182, SF4742/HF4659 and SF4826/HF4626). It sounds like a subcommittee wrote a letter to legislators about the bills (or maybe bill) and now Senator Putnam wants to meet with the Task Force next Thursday (April 18 from 2-3pm). The Office of Broadband Development is going to email Task Force members surveys (of a sort) to get their views on the various bills, they will analyze the information and report back to members in time for that meeting.
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 March 20th and the April 3rd Task – Force Meetings
10:10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Not funding ACP will have on Broadband subscribers on the reservations – Brian Hood, Operations Manager, Fond du Lac Communications
- Update/history on broadband in Fond du Lac reservation from Jason Hollinday.
- Fred Underwood found ways to get funding for FTTH and Blandin Foundation
- Did survey with Blandin Foundation and working with MIRC and BBC
- Got federal tribal grant
- Formed their own telephone company (ETC)
- Helped hugely during COVID
- We weren’t able to collaborate as much as we wanted because of the wording of the funding. We wanted to share with neighbors beyond the reservation.
- We are continually looking for ways to work with others and we being unique tools to the table including a different rule book.
10:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. BEAD Scoring rubric/Updated plan highlights with Diane Wells, Deputy Director, Office of Broadband Development and Bree Maki, Executive Director, Office of Broadband Development
Question: Do we know which FCC map will be used?
Hoping it’s 3 it will be most recent map before getting approval.
11:00 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. Break
10:50 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Digital Opportunity Update
Hannah Buckland, Digital Equity Program Lead
Bree Maki, Executive Director, Office of Broadband Development
- Digital Equity Plan was approved.
- Capacity grant was opened. MN allocation is $12 million. Application is due in a month.
- $12 million is half of what was expected. More opportunities will happen in the future. The scaled funding will make staffing difficult.
- ACP is ending in May. In April, recipients will get funding. In May, the subsidy will be drastically reduced.
- We are looking at ways to add changes to Digital Equity Plan for training.
Question:
Is there a plan to get more money?
Working on it – might be funding we can get through the State.
11:10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Broadband Overview
Bree Maki, Executive Director, Office of Broadband Development
- Doing a weekly webinar series
- Hired a new person – state & federal grant experience in St Cloud
- Grant Round 10 is open – $50 million. Deadline is May 10 at 1pm.
- Line Extension – accepting applications now, will be posting open addresses soon. Round 2 had $53 million go out; average grant was $8,000. This next round average is $11,000.
Question:
Will this info be made available in writing?
Will put info in the minutes for members.
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Legislature Discussion Update – Current Volume
Darielle Dannen, State Program Admin Manager
Tom Karst, Federal Program Officer, US Department of Commerce, NTIA
Bree Maki, Executive Director, Office of Broadband Development
Diane Wells, Deputy Director, Office of Broadband Development
- The Task Force wrote a letter to send to the legislators. Apparently there’s a subcommittee doing this work.
- OBD is going to survey Task Force member on their views of various bills and create an analysis. Want responses by Tuesday. That info will be used to prepare folks for the meeting with Sea
- Senator Putnam wants to meet with the Task Force – Thursday. Sounds like that’s only open to the Task Force members. Between 2-3pm Senate building
Updates on bills:
- Up in the air at the moment
Questions:
Can public meet with Senator too?
Because the Task Force is a public body, they should be able to.
Is the letter sent to the legislators available online?
12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. Sub-Group Discussion
- Not discussed.
12:15 p.m. – 12:20 p.m. Public Comment, Other Business, May 15th Meeting Plans, Wrap-up
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