The Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday took its final steps on a bill intended to solve disputes and speed work in the state’s quest for full broadband deployment.
Both the Senate and the House of Delegates voted unanimously to concur with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s only recommendation to the so-called “make-ready” bill that centers on utility pole access for broadband cable. Youngkin recommended that the State Corporation Commission, which will arbitrate any disputes, get an extra 60 days to make such decisions, on top of the 180 days the General Assembly granted.
The House and Senate’s combined bill, SB 713, will return to Youngkin’s desk for his signature, and it will presumably become law on July 1.
Disputes among certain internet service providers and a few electric cooperatives — about the make-ready process that prepares poles for new attachments and the cost obligation for the poles themselves — sparked the legislation. The state has until Dec. 31, 2026, to spend about $750 million in federal pandemic relief funds or risk having the government take back the leftover money that targeted broadband deployment for rural areas.
Lawmakers and other interested parties were concerned about meeting that deadline due both to the disputes and to the lag time for make-ready work, but until now, there had been no arbiter in the state for such issues. The General Assembly used Federal Communications Commission rules, which apply to such investor-owned utilities as Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy, to inform their make-ready bill and get the SCC involved. The large utilities are also involved in the commonwealth’s internet deployment.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
On April 8, Youngkin preserved budget amendments that will use a combined $50 million from the state’s general fund to help with the cause. One of the amendments dedicates $30 million from the general fund to go into the fiscal year 2025 Virginia Make Ready Initiative. The second amendment would provide $10 million over each of the next two fiscal years for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, which administers the broadband deployment process.
The General Assembly will return for a May 13 special session to work on the budget.