LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 87TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 20, 2021

TO:	Honorable Robert Nichols, Chair, Senate Committee on Transportation
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1505 by Paddie (relating to attachments for broadband service on utility poles owned by an electric cooperative and establishing and funding a pole replacement program for deployment of certain broadband facilities.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted

The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined at this time.

The bill would create the Broadband Pole Replacement Fund (fund) as a fund in the state treasury outside General Revenue. The bill would direct the Comptroller to make a one-time transfer of money received from the federal Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund to the fund.
 
The bill would create the Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program (program), administered by the Comptroller. The program would reimburse pole owners or broadband service providers the lesser of 50 percent of eligible pole replacement costs or $5,000 for removing and replacing existing poles in unserved areas for the purpose of accommodating the attachment of an eligible broadband facility.

The PUC anticipates that the bill would have no significant fiscal impact to the agency and the provisions of the bill could be implemented using existing resources. Administrative costs to the Comptroller cannot be estimated at this time.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 473 Public Utility Commission of Texas, 475 Office of Public Utility Counsel

LBB Staff:

JMc, AAL, MB, RRE, CMA