HB3650ham001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Computer Technology Committee

Filed: 3/10/2005

09400HB3650ham001 LRB094 10275 MKM 43520 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3650

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3650 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Integrated Telecommunications Outreach, Outcomes Planning, and Digital Literacy Act.

Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that the following needs are essential to statewide telecommunications technological infrastructure:

(1) The need for affordable telephone and Internet connections for all Illinoisans. The daily convenience and necessity of residents, businesses, community institutions, and enterprises calls for cooperation by all to facilitate a range of telephone and telecommunication services that enable all persons, enterprises, and institutions to connect with each other for the basic purposes of life, safety, health, and productive activity and for the purpose of getting Illinois online in convenient and affordable advanced communication and broadband as a linked, digitally literate set of regions that are competitive in our world today.

(2) The need for digital literacy and technological skills to use Internet tools and improve citizen productivity. The safety, health, and social cohesion of all individuals, families, and communities in Illinois, as well as the speed of expansion of voice, data, and visual communication services in many modes calls for multiyear cooperation for systematic outreach to all Illinois residents to understand their telephone and telecommunications options, availability, costs, guarantees, and qualities of service, including advertisement of choices and the availability of consumer protection, the development of means for systematic feedback about the quality of service and its impacts on many kinds of customers, and for the purpose of sustaining systematic means for user-friendly ways to continually advance digital literacy to use the increasingly complex electronic and telephone-linked tools that are new necessities of life not only for average residents who may be without the stability and resources of daily access to full phone service.

(3) The need for assistance in providing personal information management tools for average residents. The volume of telephone and telecommunications-based personal and mass communication calls for designing telephone and telecommunications choices to enable all residents, enterprises, and institutions to manage and have privacy in communication through consumer service tools provided by many public, private, and community providers, as they communicate with each other for basic purposes of life, liberty, and happiness; which include using telephone and telecommunications tools for more advanced purposes of connecting with the Internet online services for public services, schools and learning, health care, cultural and community arts, employment, economic opportunity, commercial and consumer purchasing, and transportation and local access places in their community dialogs and planning.

(4) The need for cooperative local, regional, and Statewide planning for basic telecommunications and broadband extension to all Illinois citizens. The many kinds and levels of basic and advanced services and the convergence of provision by converging modes of wireline, cable, wireless satellite, wireless towers, wireless locations, utility lines, and voice over Internet call for statewide cooperation in better data collection and sharing information about current and newly emerging availability, choices, and costs of basic and advanced telephone and telecommunications and evaluation of service quality and use.

(5) The need for assistance to residents with special basic telecommunication and assistive technology needs. There are social needs for better information by many kinds of consumers who have limited telephone and telecommunications choices, including needs to understand special programs for basic life connections and assistive services, as well as opportunities to benefit from stable telecommunications addresses and special service designated for universal service connectivity.

(6) The need for better public access to telecommunications services. There are needs for all consumers to better understand how to use public access information services, including call-in and call-out services of 911, use of 411 personal services and electronic directory assistance, 311 local government information, and new 211 public and community human services.

(7) The need for better cooperation among local, county, regional, and Statewide telecommunications planning and outcomes tracking. There are needs for local, county, and statewide public officials and planning bodies to have better information on telephone and telecommunications capacity and usage and digital and technological skills in order to undertake multi-year plans and public infrastructure investments, to communicate the telecommunications readiness of particular facilities or areas, and reduce the costs to local taxpayers for basic infrastructure, as well as for emergency safety and core health connections services, which often require advanced telecommunications for life supporting uses and greatest savings in public and resident costs and efficiencies in network usage

(8) The need for lesser connected residents to maintain access and technological skills at home, at work, and in public settings in order for Illinois to compete in the world marketplace. There are needs for all Illinois residents, and especially residents with less than average resources or in lesser connected communities or with special needs, to gain and maintain technological and digital literacy skills to use basic and advanced telecommunications in homes, at work, in schools, libraries, community centers, and health care facilities, and in public agencies and in settings, including at public and commercial information kiosks or information ATM machines; including the need to systematically increase the telecommunications use capacity of the Illinois workforce to reduce unemployment and underemployment in Illinois, which continues at substantially higher levels than national averages and which lags in terms of hiring for professional, technical, and entry-level employment in the face of regional and worldwide employment.

(9) The need for cooperation among State agencies concerning telecommunications access and technological skills programs to increase stakeholder investments from public and private parties. There are needs for cooperation among many State agencies, including cooperation among the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and the many programs that have responsibility for outreach concerning skill building, public benefit access, and community quality of life planning and implementation.

(10) The need for a public-private coordinating committee to work with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and its Advisory Committee on Elimination of the Digital Divide to integrate outreach and multi-year sustainable approaches. Coordinating and cooperating parties need to include telecommunications providers, telecommunications-related technology product and service providers, community technology providers, consumer interest and economic development and health and safety organizations, community service and research programs of institutions of higher education and community service and technological skills programs of elementary and secondary education, public agencies and local and regional planning bodies in all regions of the State, and other State and federal agencies and offices to assist in enabling all interested parties in participating in outreach, outcomes, planning, and digital literacy activities, in identifying appropriate sources of revenues for specific programs, and in developing new sources of endowment or program matching funds, including through programs and partnerships to share information about the synergies and shared data and outcomes information on Digital Literacy and Technology Access programs for underserved areas and populations in the State.

Section 10. Telecommunications outreach cooperation. Subject to appropriation, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, as part of the Director's responsibility for regional planning, technology, industrial competitiveness, and workforce skills, and for communication with telecommunications carriers and others in relation to the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law, shall establish a telecommunications outreach program within the Division of Technology and Industrial Competitiveness, in consultation with the Illinois Commerce Commission. The telecommunications outreach program shall do all of the following:

(1) Convene a working group of all public agencies, telecommunications providers, and community and consumer enterprises or institutions that have substantial outreach programs concerning educating residents, especially low-income, less connected, and special needs residents, to catalog telecommunications outreach and marketing programs, audiences, communication processes, and potential means of cooperation.

(2) Undertake an expanded outreach and marketing process among telecommunications providers and others to secure contributions to the Eliminate the Digital Divide Trust Program, in order to highlight the locations of public access community technology centers and services, linked with all State departments and offices, and to encourage the acquisition and maintenance of basic and more advanced technological and digital literacy skills linked with Internet and other telecommunications in underserved communities.

(3) Establish and undertake a program of outreach to implement a Good Samaritan Computer program to solicit voluntary contributions to assist low-income individuals and families in purchasing computers, coordinated with other outreach and solicitation programs for individual contributions.

(4) Establish among parties participating under this Section and other Sections established in this Act, a public-private coordinating committee with responsibility to help identify and secure multi-year investment or endowment funds and program funds, including through federal, national, and international programs, including through cooperative outreach programs and through matching, formal or informal partnerships or cooperation, including tracking outcomes and research data, through an annual review of achievements of programs of the Department and others, through opportunities for local access plans in all communities to participate, and other means to expand digital literacy and technology access through an Eliminate the Digital Divide Community Trust process or future structure as a local-State stakeholder community to assist in improving the quality of lives and strengthening the family and social networks of low income and other lesser connected residents and entities.

Section 15. Telephone and telecommunications service outcomes, data sharing, and planning. Subject to appropriation, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, in cooperation with the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Attorney General, shall establish a Telecommunications Service Outcomes, Data Sharing, and Local Planning program. The program shall:

(1) Convene a local-State-federal telecommunications cooperative data collection and sharing working group to make recommendations on State-federal cooperation, including basic and broadband telecommunications data from FCC form 477, to assist decision-makers, planners, and consumer protection parties at the State and local levels to gain better data to make decisions concerning all modes of telecommunications and information infrastructure.

(2) Establish and undertake a regional-local telecommunications planning process in cooperation with 7 to 10 regional telecommunications service areas in Illinois, regional planning councils and their member public officials, other parties within multi-county areas, nonprofit community development, technology and media networks, and telecommunications consumer groups in these regions, along the lines of using an RFP process to provide grants to community telecommunications planning processes.

(3) Establish and undertake special community telecommunication local access planning for sustainability process for community-based collaboratives or consortia, with grant funding available from Department programs, from public-private partnerships, or from the Eliminate the Digital Divide Program or a combination of sources, and to plan for programs that assist low income families to secure loans and access to special discount programs of electronic product companies.

(4) Undertake demonstration telephone and telecommunications quality of service feedback assemblies in a number of local access places in areas of 5,000 up to 60,000 residents in each telecommunications service region, with an initial focus on low-income or otherwise lesser connected communities, with a purpose of bringing together a cross-section of consumers of all modes of telecommunications to provide systematic feedback on top priorities for telecommunications infrastructure or services to improve the quality of families and communities, and specific improvements in the quality, availability, costs, and information about each telecommunications provider or service. The assemblies shall be hosted by non-profit, educational, community, or public agencies or enterprises that are not substantial providers of telecommunications services and that shall work closely with regional planning councils and related community development and consumer services networks in the area.

Section 20. Technological literacy trust grants and outcome tracking initiative. Subject to appropriation, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall establish an Eliminate the Digital Divide Community Trust Program as a continuation and expansion of the Eliminate the Digital Divide grant program, in cooperation with other State agencies, community technology networks, consumer representatives, education and higher education agencies and extension services, regional planning councils, local public agency officials, and public, nonprofit, and business institutions or enterprises that provide grants and other resources for telephone, telecommunications and related quality of life services, training, or infrastructure and in consultation with the advisory committee on elimination of the digital divide. The Trust Program may receive voluntary contributions directly from members of the public, including any entity, and from the voluntary contribution programs of telecommunications providers authorized under the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall do all of the following:

(1) Provide "Train the Trainer" grants, other professional development grants, and evaluation-linked grants to determine the outcomes and the impacts of digital literacy and technology access programs of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and other State agencies and significant regional or statewide programs to entities or consortia that are region-based or statewide-based community technology centers or networks that participate in the broadly-based annual Telecommunications Conference on Economic Development and telehealth sponsored by the University of Illinois extension program and others.

(2) Provide "Community Innovation" grants of between $5,000 to $50,000 to nonprofit community-based organizations to demonstrate innovative means to host consumer and community feedback activities on the impact of telecommunication access and technological skills on quality of life, including assemblies in local access places, in low-income areas and other underserved populations and communities with special and assistive needs, and for purposes of developing community telecommunication plans, or community technology center plans, to extend access and skills, including in homes, work locations, community technology centers, and public settings, including information kiosks, and including through innovative job-producing and revenue-generating community enterprises, including in the expanding areas of processing, demanufacturing and distribution of used technologies, undertaking electronic product recycling activities, and the development and distribution of personal information management tools and information ATM cards in the community, either directly or through statewide or regional circuit consortia with substantial experience in assisting such organizations.

(3) In consultation with the Advisory Committee on Elimination of the Digital Divide, provide "Family and Social Network Strengthening" grants of an amount to be determined to innovative organizations or enterprises that have the capacity to provide and sustain Personal Information Management tools and services, including assistive technologies, e-mail and e-personal applications, and information ATM cards, at low-cost or no-cost to low income and other underserved families and individuals to enable them to acquire skills and develop and strengthen links with ongoing consumer services and Community Technology Centers and other important work and family support networks and with special focus on regionwide and statewide sustainable networks and services.

(4) Co-sponsor an annual statewide community technology center professional development conference and any regional professional development online resources and calendar activities recommended by the advisory committee on elimination of the digital divide.

(5) Convene a stakeholder conference on resources to eliminate the digital divide.

(6) Administer the resources in the current Eliminate the Digital Divide grant program, with interest on funds in the program to be used by the program and with funds received by the program from contributions from residents and stakeholders in digital literacy, including from telecommunications formulaic or other contributions, not subject to reduction or use by the general treasury reduction or use by the general treasury and with authority to make grants of up to $75,000 for technological skills and telecommunication and technology access to Community Technology Centers and to "Train the Trainer" grants provided for in this Section and to enable Community Technology Centers to assist participants in understanding and using Personal Information Management tools as part of regular training and access services and as a means to assist those Centers in developing on-going services to participants and sources of earned revenue.

(7) Prepare an annual report on Digital Literacy and Technology and Telecommunication Access and their impact on community and economic development in the State, including a summary of outcomes since the initial grants under the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law, by February 1 of each year.

(8) Propose a formal Eliminate the Digital Divide Community Trust structure or entity involving public-private-community partnership activity, in consultation with coordinating and cooperating parties involved with activities under this Act, that has the capacity to bring resources from State and local agencies, telecommunications providers, business and charitable entities, and cooperation among those parties, including opportunities to apply for federal and other public, business, or charitable grants, funds, or revenue sources and that may undertake activities on October 1, 2006 or January 1, 2007.".