1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to economic development; creating 
  1.3             demonstration projects for economic and community 
  1.4             development through telecommunications technology; 
  1.5             providing funding for regional electronic commerce 
  1.6             incentives; appropriating money; proposing coding for 
  1.7             new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116J. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [116J.036] [CERTIFICATION OF ELECTRONIC- 
  1.10  COMMERCE-READY CITIES AND COUNTIES.] 
  1.11     A county or statutory or home rule charter city of 
  1.12  Minnesota shall be designated an electronic-commerce-ready city 
  1.13  or county by the department of trade and economic development 
  1.14  and may be annually recertified as an electronic-commerce-ready 
  1.15  city or county if it: 
  1.16     (1) has formed effective public-private partnerships with 
  1.17  communication providers, the business community, banks, schools, 
  1.18  health care, government, and nonprofit social and service 
  1.19  organizations to become electronic commerce ready; 
  1.20     (2) makes available training and continuing education to 
  1.21  develop an electronic-commerce-ready workforce; 
  1.22     (3) develops a plan for electronic commerce readiness that 
  1.23  reflects resource integration across economic and government 
  1.24  sectors, including current and future investments by business, 
  1.25  government, education, and health care to achieve cooperative 
  1.26  community and economic development benefits; 
  2.1      (4) uses local funding sources to catalyze and sustain 
  2.2   information technology investments to adapt to new business 
  2.3   priorities as electronic commerce grows; and 
  2.4      (5) maintains public access sites to ensure access to 
  2.5   electronic commerce applications and community networking tools, 
  2.6   such as electronic mail. 
  2.7      Sec. 2.  [116J.037] [ELECTRONIC COMMERCE INVESTMENT 
  2.8   PROGRAM.] 
  2.9      Subdivision 1.  [CREATED; PURPOSE.] To assist communities 
  2.10  in becoming electronic commerce ready, the electronic commerce 
  2.11  investment program is created.  The commissioner of trade and 
  2.12  economic development shall administer the program.  The 
  2.13  program's goals are to: 
  2.14     (1) strengthen the competitive information infrastructure 
  2.15  to facilitate electronic commerce readiness statewide; 
  2.16     (2) increase the capacity of citizens, businesses, 
  2.17  communities, and regions of the state to stay competitive in the 
  2.18  emerging electronic commerce economy; 
  2.19     (3) fully realize the benefits of information technology 
  2.20  and telecommunications for sustainable community and economic 
  2.21  development; and 
  2.22     (4) facilitate the transition into the market-based, 
  2.23  competitive communications environment, particularly for remote 
  2.24  or hard-to-serve market areas of the state. 
  2.25     Subd. 2.  [ELECTRONIC-COMMERCE-READINESS AND DEMONSTRATION 
  2.26  ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANTS AND LOANS AUTHORIZED.] The 
  2.27  commissioner of trade and economic development may make grants 
  2.28  and loans to public entities and nonprofit organizations for the 
  2.29  projects described in this section and to advance the goals of 
  2.30  the electronic commerce initiative.  All grants must be approved 
  2.31  by the executive director of the office of technology.  The 
  2.32  commissioner must, to the extent feasible, authorize grants and 
  2.33  revolving loans so that supported initiatives in the aggregate 
  2.34  are diverse and inclusive of urban, rural, suburban, and 
  2.35  regional center locations.  All grants and loans must require an 
  2.36  evaluation of the project by an independent evaluator approved 
  3.1   by the commissioner.  The evaluator must report the results of 
  3.2   the evaluation to the commissioner and the legislature by 
  3.3   October 31, 2001.  Grants and loans may be used to lease or 
  3.4   purchase equipment and for services of contractors and employees.
  3.5      Subd. 3.  [BROAD-BAND TECHNOLOGY.] The commissioner shall 
  3.6   make at least four grants or loans to public entities with 
  3.7   identified private sector partners to demonstrate the use of 
  3.8   broad-band technology extended to public facilities, homes, and 
  3.9   businesses. 
  3.10     Subd. 4.  [COMMUNITY E-MAIL.] The commissioner shall make 
  3.11  eight grants or loans to a city, county, or nonprofit 
  3.12  organization to demonstrate the use of universal community 
  3.13  e-mail.  Universal community e-mail involves providing an e-mail 
  3.14  address for all individuals in a geographic area and sufficient 
  3.15  access to computers within the area to send and receive e-mail 
  3.16  and engage in electronic commerce transactions. 
  3.17     Subd. 5.  [INTERNET PROTOCOL TELEPHONY.] The commissioner 
  3.18  shall make a grant or loan to a public entity, such as a school 
  3.19  district, higher education institution, city, or county that is 
  3.20  a major user of telephone services for demonstration of Internet 
  3.21  protocol telephony.  An application for that grant or loan must 
  3.22  include a private entity that will partner in the grant or loan. 
  3.23     Subd. 6.  [OTHER GRANTS AND LOANS.] The commissioner may 
  3.24  make other grants and loans to support additional initiatives 
  3.25  furthering the purposes described in subdivision 1. 
  3.26     Subd. 7.  [APPLICATION FOR GRANTS AND LOANS.] Requests for 
  3.27  a grant or loan, other than the grants identified in 
  3.28  subdivisions 3 to 5, shall be made by application to the 
  3.29  commissioner of trade and economic development.  The application 
  3.30  must, at a minimum, document for each applicant the following: 
  3.31     (1) intent to aggregate, or current aggregation of, demand 
  3.32  for services among private, nonprofit, and public sector shared 
  3.33  basis within or between communities; 
  3.34     (2) the extent to which the proposal indicates 
  3.35  private-public shared funding for the initiative and 
  3.36  collaborative planning among different economic and government 
  4.1   sectors, including, but not limited to, private sector 
  4.2   providers, public sector technology investments such as the 
  4.3   state information infrastructure, library systems, health care 
  4.4   providers, businesses, schools, and other educational 
  4.5   institutions, and the nonprofit sector to leverage public and 
  4.6   private investments to the maximum benefit of all citizens; 
  4.7      (3) the extent to which the supporting information 
  4.8   infrastructure employs an open network architecture that will 
  4.9   ensure interconnectivity and interoperability across community 
  4.10  sectors; and 
  4.11     (4) the extent to which a comprehensive technology plan is 
  4.12  or will be created that integrates technology goals with 
  4.13  community and economic development goals for the community and 
  4.14  region. 
  4.15     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  4.16     $....... is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 
  4.17  2001, from the general fund to the commissioner of trade and 
  4.18  economic development for grants and loans under Minnesota 
  4.19  Statutes, section 116J.037.