1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to telecommunications; appropriating money for a broadband 
1.3 	infrastructure economic development demonstration project.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
1.6 	DEMONSTRATION PROJECT; APPROPRIATION.
 1.7 	(a) $2,400,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 2016 from the border-to-border 
1.8 	broadband infrastructure fund under Minnesota Statutes, section 116J.396, to the 
1.9 	commissioner of employment and economic development to award a grant to a city to 
1.10 	pay for broadband infrastructure and other eligible expenses, as identified in Minnesota 
1.11 	Statutes, section 116J.395, subdivision 2, for a wire-line broadband infrastructure 
1.12 	demonstration project that is part of a public-private partnership.
1.13 	(b) In order to be awarded the grant under paragraph (a), a city must demonstrate:
1.14 	(1) funding from nonstate sources that matches the amount appropriated in 
1.15 	paragraph (a);
1.16 	(2) broadband service outages of 12 hours or more in the area within its jurisdiction;
1.17 	(3) a decline in the number of businesses in the area within its jurisdiction, as a result 
1.18 	of the lack of adequate broadband service; and
1.19 	(4) an agreement that the city will own the broadband infrastructure as part of the 
1.20 	public-private partnership.
1.21 	(c) The commissioner of employment and economic development must award the 
1.22 	grant under this section before September 1, 2015.

1.23 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.