A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to encourage improvement to the State's information technology infrastructure by requiring department of Transportation to develop a program for the installation of broadband conduit in the right‑of‑way of state highways when those highways are constructed.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑18 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(44)	The Department of Transportation shall have authority to construct conduits for telecommunication cable in the State right‑of‑way, with the costs of construction to be borne through the leasing of the conduit to private telecommunications companies, where such construction and leasing is not otherwise prohibited by any other federal or State law. The Conduit Installation Account is created as a nonreverting account within the Highway Trust Fund to receive revenues from conduit leasing. The Department shall administer the Account. Revenue in the Account may be used only to fund the installation of telecommunications conduit in State right‑of‑way, as authorized by this subdivision."
SECTION 2.  Article 2A of Chapter 136 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 136‑44.17.  Installation of telecommunications conduit within State right‑of‑way.
As authorized in G.S. 136‑18(44), the Department shall include in its planning for new roads and for improvements to existing roads the installation of conduit for telecommunications cables when all of the following apply:
(1)	Less than fifty percent (50%) of households in the county where the road project is located have access to high‑speed data or telecommunications services. If a project is located in more than one county, the Department may evaluate each county separately under this subdivision.
(2)	A provider of high‑speed data or telecommunications services provides the Department with a letter indicating its interest in leasing the conduit from the Department at any time within five years of completion of the project."
SECTION 3.  The Department shall report no later than May 1, 2014, to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee and annually thereafter on its progress in implementing the program to install telecommunications conduit authorized by this act. The initial report shall include identification by the Department of any statutory or regulatory barriers to implementation of the conduit installation program. Each report shall include a list of highway projects eligible for conduit installation in the next year with a financial and market analysis and resulting estimate by the Department as to whether the conduit installation authorized by this act is likely to be cost‑effective for that project.
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.