A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT creating the legislative study Commission on rural internet access and appropriating funds for that purpose.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is created the Legislative Study Commission on Rural Internet Access ("Commission").  The Commission shall consist of 10 voting members appointed as follows:
(1)	Five members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to include:
a.	Three members of the House of Representatives.
b.	At least one person from the high-speed Internet industry or the field of information technology.
(2)	Five members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, to include:
a.	Three members of the Senate.
b.	At least one person from the high-speed Internet industry or the field of information technology.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Commission shall include nonvoting, ex officio members as follows:
(1)	The State Chief Information Officer, or the officer's designee.
(2)	The Secretary of Commerce, or the officer's designee.
SECTION 1.(c)  The Commission shall:
(1)	Review and assess current efforts to provide citizens living in the rural areas of the State with access to technological advancements in telecommunications and information networks.
(2)	Review the affordability and availability of high‑speed Internet access in rural areas of the State.
(3)	Examine how State funds are being used currently to help bring Internet access to rural areas of the State and determine whether there are more cost-effective ways for the State to assist efforts to bring high-speed Internet access to those areas.
(4)	Study any other matter the Commission deems relevant.
(5)	Make an interim report to the General Assembly by the convening of the 2008 Regular Session.
(6)	Make a final report to the 2009 General Assembly that includes findings, recommendations, and legislative proposals relating to rural Internet access in the State.
SECTION 1.(d)  The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall each appoint a cochair for the Commission. The Commission may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120‑32.02. Upon approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Commission. Clerical staff shall be furnished to the Commission through the offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate Directors of Legislative Assistants. The Commission may meet in the Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building upon the approval of the Legislative Services Commission. Members of the Commission shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances at the rate established in G.S. 120‑3.1. The appointing authority shall fill vacancies. The Commission, while in the discharge of its official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 through G.S. 120‑19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them and the power to subpoena witnesses.
SECTION 1.(e)  The Commission shall terminate upon filing its final report.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to fund the work of the Legislative Study Commission on Rural Internet Access created by this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.