Category Archives: Building Broadband Tools

EVENT Mar 20: HF3966 Public safety telecommunicator training and continuing education requirements established

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March 20, the MN House committee on Public Safety Finance and Policy will discuss HF3966 (Wolgamott) Public safety telecommunicator training and continuing education requirements established, Public Safety Telecommunicator Training and Standards Board established, rulemaking authorized, report required, and money appropriated.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 , 6:00 PM

Public Safety Finance and Policy

Chair: Rep. Kelly Moller
Location: Room 200
Agenda:

HF 3966 (Wolgamott) Public safety telecommunicator training and continuing education requirements established, Public Safety Telecommunicator Training and Standards Board established, rulemaking authorized, report required, and money appropriated.

Bill as introduced…

A bill for an act
relating to public safety; establishing public safety telecommunicator training and
continuing education requirements; establishing Public Safety Telecommunicator
Training and Standards Board; authorizing rulemaking; requiring a report;
appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 403.02,
subdivision 17c; Minnesota Statutes 2023 Supplement, section 403.11, subdivision
1; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 403.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 403.02, subdivision 17c, is amended to read:

Subd. 17c.

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EVENT Mar 19: MN House Committee to again discuss HF4659: Safety standards for broadband installers

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Last week, the MN House Agriculture Finance and Policy met to discuss HF4659 (Berg) Safety standards for broadband industry installers required; and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program implemented. (I wrote about the bill earlier.)

Tomorrow (Mar 19) they will be heard again in the House…

Time: 3 p.m.

Event: House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee

Agenda:

HF4659 (Berg) Safety standards for broadband industry installers required; and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program implemented.

Channel: HTV5

MN HF4659: Safety standards for broadband installers re-referred to Climate and Energy Committee

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Yesterday (Mar 12) the MN House Agriculture Finance and Policy me to discuss HF4659 (Berg) Safety standards for broadband industry installers required; and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program implemented. (I wrote about the bill earlier.)

It is a bill to create a skilled workforce, a safe workplace and aims to create middle class jobs. It includes training and prevailing wage rules. It holds providers responsible when safety concerns are not met.

Pro Comments:

  • Right now we see low levels of training and high levels of job dissatisfaction
  • We learned that broadband installers often damage water and gas lines
  • This bill would stabilize the industry, make the jobs safer and make the areas around installations safer

Con Comments

  • We are concerned subjectiveness of who sets standards
  • Why would contractor have to choose prevailing wage versus 80 hours annual training?
  • We already do training – so low expectations of training may be exaggerated
  • This bill doesn’t align with federal funding opportunities nor the broadband plan submitted by Minnesota to get funding
  • Broadband providers will not pursue funding from the state if these expectations are added to the contracts
  • The MN Broadband Task Force has been working on MN issues for 15 years – but this has not been vetted by the Task Force. We should send this to the Task Force.
  • The State & Feds have ambition goals – these new rules may prevent providers from reaching goals
  • If prevailing wages are required, providers will not be able to apply for funds because it will increase expenses
  • Opposed to the State leveraging state funding to administer new rules
  • Leave this in the capable hands of the Office of Broadband Development

Questions:

Is there a date of effect?
No date listed so bill would take effect next Aug 1.

The bill says half the projects need to be completed in 2024. Is that really possible?
No but we could amend the date to work.

Why are we making changes when the OBD is so well lauded? Did OBD think it was necessary?
They are not here right now. We don’t know.

It seems like this bill will get in the way of our broadband goal.

How often are we seeing issues?
in the 100s for an annual count

How do we compare to other states?
Hard to track because every state has different counting methods

The intention is to fund folks who maintain safety standards.

Why did we bypass the MN Task Force?
The Task Force has only met twice since I was put on it and we need to do this now to impact the federal funding requirements

Bill is re-referred to Climate and Energy Committee.

 

EVENT Mar 12: MN House committee to discuss HF4659 a bill on BEAD safety standards for broadband installers

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On March 12, the MN House committee on Agriculture Finance and Policy will hear more about HF 4659 (Berg) Safety standards for broadband industry installers required; and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program implemented. (I wrote about the bill earlier.

More information from the MN House:

Tuesday, March 12, 2024 , 1:00 PM

Agriculture Finance and Policy

Chair: Rep. Samantha Vang
Location: Basement Hearing Room
Agenda:

HF 4655 (Vang) Bird hatching banned in schools.
HF 3410 (Freiberg) Classification of commercial dog and cat breeder data collected and maintained by Board of Animal Health amended; kennel and dealer advertising requirements modified; and Board of Animal Health required to post kennel, dealer, and commercial breeder information.
HF 4659 (Berg) Safety standards for broadband industry installers required; and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program implemented.
HF 3821 (Sencer-Mura) Food Safety and Defense Task Force provision expiration amended.

More on Waseca County Broadband History Plans with BevComm

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Waseca County News reports on the County Commission meeting I attended last week…

After schools and businesses shifted even further online during the pandemic, Waseca County is working to help make connecting easier from border to border.

As a rural county, many Waseca County residents have trouble with the internet. To fix this, county staff worked alongside BevComm and submitted a proposal to Minnesota’s Office of Broadband Development to secure broadband for four local townships.

The Waseca County Board of Commissioners held a work session meeting on Tuesday Feb. 6 to talk to Ann Treacy about their plan for broadband development. Treacy, who joined the meeting via Zoom, is a writer for the Blandin Foundation and writes a lot about broadband in Minnesota.

“We know that the decision makers in the Office of Broadband Development read what Ann posts, and it’s important that we get this story out about what Waseca County is doing,” Steve Kraus said at the work session meeting.

More about the project…

Last year, Kraus and Waseca County worked with internet service provider BevComm and submitted a $6 million proposal to the Office of Broadband Development as part of their broadband grant program. The $6 million would support four Waseca County townships with broadband.

This is the office’s 9th grant round, with Waseca County’s proposal in the 8th round being unsuccessful. While Waseca County is facing stiff competition as many other counties in Minnesota have submitted proposals, Kraus and the county are optimistic for this round.

Inherent in broadband expansion is broadband installation

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MinnPost recently published an opinion piece from Jason George, the business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49. I mention the author specifically because his position indicates that he understands broadband installation, and he may have a bias as to who should be doing the work. But as we get ready for large amounts of federal funding, it’s helpful to think of all sides of all implications…

In today’s hyper-connected economy, access to high-speed internet can transform a community. Lack of access can smother its future.

So the stakes are high as Minnesota is poised to invest more than $650 million in federal funding for broadband, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure bill championed by President Joe Biden.

But the stakes are also high when inexperienced, underpaid workers install fiber optics cables, often digging within inches of dangerous gas utilities or powerlines. One careless error could be fatal to workers and catastrophic to a community.

Kandiyohi County hears from three possible broadband partners to expand coverage

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West Central Tribune reports…

More than 1,800 more homes and businesses could obtain access to high-speed broadband internet if three new expansion projects can collect the funding needed to make the project possible.

Mark Boeschen, the chair of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission Broadband Committee, attended the Nov. 21 meeting of the Kandiyohi County Board . Boeschen requested the board’s support to apply for state Border to Border broadband grant funding, as well as approval to dip into the over $6 million the county has set aside in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help pay for broadband projects.

“We are not asking for any additional funds, just to use the funds available,” Boeschen said.
The first project would cover areas in Lake Andrew, Colfax, Norway Lake, St. Johns and Dovre townships, with approximately 1,292 passes, or properties close enough to connect to the main fiber line. The project would see all of Lake Andrew, Colfax and St. Johns covered.

The estimated cost for the entire project is $16,412,703. The EDC committee is applying for a state grant for 50 percent of the cost, while service provider Federated Telephone Cooperative will contribute 25 percent of the cost. The townships as a whole will put in 10 percent while the county’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation will cover the remaining 15 percent.

The second project would complete broadband coverage of Gennessee, Fahlun and Kandiyohi townships, minus the areas already considered served by the state definition, which is access to broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second download and 20 Mbps upload.

The project would have 494 passes and cost around $4,241,573. The EDC is applying again for 50 percent of the cost from the state program. Vibrant, the service provider, will again provide 25 percent of the cost. However, the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds will pay for 20 percent of the project, as the townships cover the remaining 5 percent.

The third project discussed at the County Board meeting would complete broadband access to Lake Lillian Township with 87 passes. It would cost around $1,456,074. The state grant ask would be for 75 percent of the cost, due to the low population of the area.

“It meets the requirement of a low-density project, so we can ask for additional funding from the state,” Boeschen said.

Vibrant would put in 13 percent, the county 10 percent with the township paying for the final 2 percent of the cost.

The application deadline for the state grant program is Dec. 7, so the EDC committee is working hard to get all the needed paperwork, including the letters of support from the County Board, completed and in ready to send off.

FCC Map is updated – number of unserved areas drops 13 percent in the US

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Telecompetitor reports…

Version 3 of the FCC broadband map has been released publicly. The map is based on data filed by providers reflecting broadband availability as of June 30.

According to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the number of locations lacking high-speed broadband nationwide dropped to 7.2 million from 8.3 million in version 2, which was based on December 31, 2022 data. That’s a drop of more than 13% over the six-month period.

“Providers are connecting more locations to high-speed internet services thanks to the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and Connect America Fund, in addition to other federal, state and privately funded program and projects,” said Rosenworcel in a blog post.

The new map also reflects the results of 4.8 million challenges to provider-reported data and over 1.5 million accepted location challenges, Rosenworcel said.

Here’s a look at Minnesota’s access to a wired connection with at least 25 Mbps down and 3 up (25/3) connection. (The darker the blue, the better the coverage.)

Sherburne County will be looking at broadband

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Patriot News reports…

The Palmer Township Board met Monday evening and a presentation from Sherburne County’s Planning and Zoning staff highlighted the lengthy agenda. …

Additional priorities in the upcoming months will include an online permitting system, as well as continued progress on the EDA’s strategic plan to include areas such as business retention and expansion, housing and broadband.

Barthel did note that Sherburne is now in the top 10 of Minnesota counties in terms of broadband coverage.

Iron Range meets to workshop some broadband solutions: start of a get better broadband checklist

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I was in Mountain Iron today for a meeting with RAMS (Range Association of Municipalities and Schools), North East Service Cooperative, IRRR and anyone interested in talking about how to get better broadband to their community. At the end of the meeting, we learned that one goal was to get one community to move forward to get better broadband. I think it was a successful meeting.

Fewer than a dozen of us sat at a table. No agenda. And just started talking about what we knew. Much of the conversation was very specific to the area so I won’t go into those details. But a few things happened that I thought would be interested in any Minnesota region. First – it was time well spent. There were four-ish communities represented and I think all of them have a deeper drive and idea of what to do next; one is definitely ready to move forward. Second – the question on everyone’s mind is whether there is an opportunity to use the BEAD challenge process to get more money into Minnesota. There are discrepancies between the FCC maps, the Minnesota maps and local surveys with speed tests. It’s frustrating to folks. Finally, there was a provider in the room who was very generous about asking practical questions to the communities that taught us a lot about how a provider qualifies a potential community partner. I thought I’d try to relay the questions I caught with some explanation when is makes sense.

  • How many locations do you want to include? And are any seasonal residents?
    Seasonal residents are often not compelling, although remote monitoring and other year round use of broadband can change that.
  • Do you need to serve the whole community?
    It may make sense to h relationship serving only a portion of your community with a project that may be easier or more profitable. You may need to skip the onesie-twosie neighborhoods a mile down the road because that math doesn’t work well – for the first project. Once you have a relationship, it’s easier to make a case for the more difficult neighborhoods.
  • Can you serve locations outside of your jurisdiction? Got an area near you that might draw a provider, like a manufactured home park?
    Consider including customers who aren’t in your township or county if it means more potential customers to provider. The provider doesn’t think in political boundaries and it might make the different in making the project attractive.
  • Is there any existing infrastructure? Think of anchor tenants too. Maybe the courthouse has access or the school.
    The owners of the existing technology may make good partners or they may be the most likely provider moving forward.
  • How many miles of streets do you have? Are they all paved? Is there a ditch that might hold conduit?
  • Do you railroad tracks, bogs, lakes, granite ground, historically significant lands?
    Each of these can be a trigger for an increase in expense because of permitting or simply being ground that’s hard to dig.
  • Is there any scheduled construction in the foreseeable future? Or any new housing development or industrial parks?
  • How much can your community (township, city and/or county) invest in the project?
    A number of 2 percent was mentioned as a target.
  • Have you surveyed folks on their need and interest in better broadband.

I may try to develop this list more and update with a new post.

A few bonus nuggets maybe related to policy suggestions:

Providers who accepted RDOF money need only reach 95 percent of the locations in the area. This means 5 percent will likely not be served and those locations will be the highest cost, hardest to reach. Not including those locations in the original bid, made the bid more attractive but it will leave some locations unserved.

Low population density grants in Minnesota offer 75 percent of funding but that is not enough to make a project palatable in some areas where the population or population density are too low or potential costs to deploy and maintain are too high. There are trigger issues (permits, crowded rights of way, difficult terrain) that might cause an unexpected high increase in price. It is difficult to plan for such triggers. Maybe we need an option for greater funding or an option for trigger funding.

Mankato Free Press on federal broadband funding in MN

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Mankato Free Press ran a recent editorial…

Minnesota, like many states with large swaths of rural areas, will use the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to connect its hundreds of thousands of people without broadband internet.

Minnesota was projected to get $7.4 billion through the legislation, with $6.1 billion of that requiring some level of state matching funds. About $5.3 billion was targeted to transportation infrastructure such as roads, bridges and waterways.

While road projects get the bulk of the money, expanding broadband is one of the highest priorities.

Of the $65 billion targeted to broadband from the law, Minnesota will get about $612 million, an amount that is six times higher than the current state investment. In rural areas, 40% are without adequate broadband speed, according to a state report.

“This will do a lot. It won’t get the entire problem fixed — there is more than $652 million in work to be done — but it will certainly move the needle,” Bill Eckles, CEO of Blue Earth-based Bevcomm, told The Free Press earlier this year. Bevcomm will compete for the federal funding where local matches are required.

Minnesota ranked 29th in the country for the amount of federal broadband funding it will receive, with the top states being Texas, California, Missouri and Michigan. Wisconsin will get about $1 billion and Iowa $400 million.

All Democrats in Minnesota’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the infrastructure bill in November 2021 except Rep. Ilhan Omar. All GOP representatives voted against the bill.

Two of the bigger projects include $25 million to reconstruct or rehabilitate bridges on Interstate 90 in southern Minnesota and $10 million to widen a crash-prone five miles of U.S. Highway 212 west of the Twin Cities.

Because the federal money often requires matching funds from governments or businesses, Minnesota lawmakers last session allocated $200 million in matching funds for any entity that wants to apply for them. Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, was chief author of the legislation and called it a “once in a lifetime” chance to building energy transition infrastructure such as EV-charging stations.

Star Tribune article on rural broadband spurs comments on fiber vs satellite

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In a weekly catch-up of comments on his columns, Star Tribune’s Evan Ramstad noted reactions to his recent column on rural broadband…

In the online comments section of my Oct. 22 column about rural broadband, the suggestion appeared again and again that people in parts of Minnesota without access to broadband could subscribe to the Starlink satellite service, which is offered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture.

That indeed is an option, though, as several commenters noted, not as reliable as optical fiber. Starlink dishes need what’s known as “line of sight” access to a satellite. Trees and hills can get in the way.

Bois Forte Band broadband project nearly to bidding process around Orr MN (St Louis County)

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The Timberjay reports…

After a delay in the state’s required historical review process, construction bids will soon be sought for the $19.8 million Bois Forte Band high-speed broadband project serving the south shore of Lake Vermilion and areas around Orr.
Bois Forte Information Technology Director Randy Long said on Tuesday that the detailed engineering for the project, which is being done in partnership with CTC Telecom, is “pretty much wrapped up.”
The band had originally hoped to break ground on the project this year, but a mandated review of plans by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has taken far longer than expected.

…

Long noted last fall that the final scope of the deployment could be curtailed somewhat depending on the availability and cost of fiber optic cable and equipment, as well as unanticipated construction costs, which could be likely when dealing with Vermilion’s rocky south shore. The original plan was to start just west of Tower, and stretch fiber optic broadband all the way to the west end of Lake Vermilion, wrapping around the whole of Head of the Lakes Bay. The southern border for broadband deployment would be Hwy. 115 up to about Wakely Rd, where it would then taper to the northwest and Head of the Lakes Bay. The Orr portion of the development would include residential and resort areas along the northwest shore of Pelican Lake and west along Nett Lake Rd. to serve the major areas of residential and commercial properties along the south shore.
The new system will connect with another Band project serving the Vermilion and Nett Lake sectors and Indian Point on Pelican Lake. Sign-ups for those systems have been taking place, and Long said the systems will be coming online soon.
“We have our first customers being lit up on Oct. 30 – that’s for the Nett Lake, Palmquist, and Indian Point areas,” Long said. “And then Nov. 9 we’re doing sign ups for the Vermilion sector and will probably turn them on in mid-November.”
Long said the partnership with CTC has worked well.

Federal funding allocated for broadband permitting

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Fierce Telecom reports…

On Wednesday, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council unveiled it will allocate nearly $155 million to assist agencies in infrastructure permitting review. For example, the funding will allow agencies to hire permitting experts and acquire “vital tools and resources” so they can review projects in time.

Established in 2015, the Permitting Council oversees the FAST 41 program, which is designed to streamline permitting review for sectors such as broadband, renewable energy generation and transmission.

The $155 million comes from funding allocated in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, through which the council received a total of $350 million to fund its efforts over the course of nine years.

All told, the Inflation Reduction Act appropriated $1 billion total for federal agency permitting activities. …

“With these funds agencies will be equipped like never before to handle the oftentimes heavy workload of permitting review,” he said.

Agencies that receive support are required to periodically share progress and best practices demonstrating how the money is benefitting their permitting processes, environmental review and project timelines.

At Fiber Connect this year, Beightel said while the Permitting Council has little power to influence state governments, it can leverage some of its $350 million to help states and local entities reform their permitting review as well.

New DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek talks broadband with MinnPost

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MinnPost recently interviewed the new DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek. And they asked a lot of questions about broadband…

Matt Varilek is fortunate as the new commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development to have internet that is fast enough for him to have remote meetings at home in rural Benton County.

But not everyone in Greater Minnesota has that ability, which is why delivering broadband across the state is a passion of his. It’s also a monumental task. His office will oversee the distribution of more than $750 million in state and federal funds to subsidize broadband infrastructure.

Broadband expansion is just one of several high-profile assignments DEED will be responsible for in the next few years. Another is carrying out Minnesota’s new paid family and medical leave law, which is expected to need about 400 new state workers to administer the program.

When asked about economic challenges…

… Another example that matters to all of us and where we work on it everywhere, but which has a slightly different character in Greater Minnesota, is broadband. It’s certainly a passion of ours at DEED, and it’s a passion of mine as a guy who is working in Greater Minnesota right now and only able to do my remote meetings thanks to having good broadband where I happen to live.

And broadband…

MP: I did want to ask you a broadband question. You all have an incredible amount of money coming your way to hand out from the federal government and from the Legislature. Broadly, do you have any thoughts on coming into office and having to handle hundreds of millions of dollars and finding the way to connect some of these hardest-to-reach places?

MV: It’s a fantastic situation to be in that we really have significant resources now to invest thanks to this being a bipartisan priority at the national level and then here in Minnesota as well. In fact, it’s obviously such a priority that the Legislature has established a more ambitious goal in terms of the speed that we wanna hit to consider the job accomplished. We’re excited to be doing that.

MP: The state has leaned pretty heavily into subsidizing the fiber-optic cable side of things, seeing it as more reliable and faster than some emerging technologies (that can be cheaper) like fixed wireless and satellite like Starlink. There is certainly a robust debate out there about where the state should go. Do you have a philosophy on that? Some Republicans have suggested the state buy people a Starlink subscription and be done with it.

MV: I have my opinions as someone that uses broadband, but I also am smart enough to know that there are experts who are engaged in that debate. And I always want to have my ears open to findings and reflections from those experts. But for now we’re gonna carry on with the plans as they exist under the direction of our, I think, highly regarded Office of Broadband Development.

MP: I would love to hear those opinions, even if you’re hearing from the experts, too.

MV: Well, what I’m saying is if we get findings deviating from the fiber direction that would make more sense, we will listen to that. But that’s not the direction that I’m hearing from the experts that we talk to.