RALEIGH—The Senate on Tuesday approved legislation creating a new agency that will provide high-speed broadband Internet access for rural counties and “distressed” urban areas in North Carolina.
The Senate approved the measure establishing the E-NC Authority by a 41-6 vote. Approved by the House in April, the bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley, who is expected to sign it into law.
The E-NC Authority will continue and expand the work of the Rural Internet Access Authority, which was established by the legislature three years ago and originally set to expire at the end of 2003. The Senate Information Technology Committee added an amendment to the bill that will phase out the agency in 2006.
Sponsored by Sen. Eric Reeves, D-Wake, the bill aims to “provide leadership, coordination, and support for grass-roots efforts targeting technology-based economic development.” Although legislators expressed overwhelming support for the measure, some senators expressed concern about the feasibility, propriety, and scheduled demise of the legislation.
“It’s like the government has decided to go into business. Let’s think about what happens — instead of the market deciding what is needed, government decides what is needed,” Sen. Fern Shubert, R-Union, said.
Reeves said the bill is a compromise that will improve the quality of life and attract businesses in distressed and rural communities. “This allows us to move forward. It is something for the state we can all be proud of,” he said. Although the original proposal did not include the three-year sunset, Reeves said his bill does not seek to generate a permanent addition to the state bureaucracy.
The E-NC Authority will be created within the Department of Commerce. A commission of nine voting members, three of whom are appointed by the governor and six by the Assembly, will govern the agency. The appointments will “ represent the geographic, gender, and racial diversity of the state,” the bill says.
Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Alamance, said that in approving the legislation, the Assembly has assumed significant commitments best left to private enterprise. “What we’ve got is another government entity going on to compete with private industries. This will not enhance access,” he said.
Among others powers given to it, the authority will direct grants, contributions, and other appropriations for the expansion of broadband Internet service. The agency also may enter into contracts and provide assistance to local governments and nonprofits looking to improve regional technology. The authority is supposed to operate as a self-funded entity, but more than $258 million in state funds has gone to the funding source of the RIAA, the nonprofit technology center MCNC, since it was established in 1980.
Shubert said she doubts that the state will stop providing Internet services when the bill’s sunset provision is supposed to take effect. “I no more believe this will sunset when it says than I believed the Rural Internet Access Authority would not linger,” she said.
The agency will serve 85 counties and “distressed urban areas.” An eligible county is one that has fewer than 250 people per square mile. Distressed urban areas are those where at least 10 percent of the children in a public school district receive government aid or 25 percent meet the requirements for a federal government-sponsored free lunch.