Amendment_Report_for

SECTION 1. Section 77-3-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

77-3-2. (1) The Legislature finds and determines that the rates, services and operations of public utilities as defined in this title are affected with the public interest and that the availability of an adequate and reliable service by such public utilities to the people, economy and government of the State of Mississippi is a matter of public policy. The Legislature hereby declares to be the policy of the State of Mississippi:

(a) To provide fair regulation of public utilities in the interest of the public;

(b) To promote the inherent advantage of regulated public utilities;

(d) To provide just and reasonable rates and charges for public utility services without unjust discrimination, undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices and consistent with long-term management and conservation of energy resources by avoiding wasteful, uneconomic and inefficient uses of energy;

(e) To encourage and promote harmony between public utilities, their users and the environment;

(f) To foster the continued service of public utilities on a well-planned and coordinated basis that is consistent with the level of service needed for the protection of public health and safety and for the promotion of the general welfare;

(g) To cooperate with other states and the federal government in promoting and coordinating interstate and intrastate public utility service and reliability;

(h) To encourage the continued study and research for new and innovative rate-making procedures which will protect the state, the public, the ratepayers and the utilities, and where possible reduce the costs of the rate-making process; and

(i) With respect to rate-regulated public utilities, to foster, encourage, enable and facilitate economic development in the State of Mississippi, * * * ~~and~~ to support and augment economic development activities, * * * ~~and~~ to expand deployment of existing and emerging technologies including fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments which will foster a more reliable and resilient utility delivery system and provide customer access to enhanced services, to encourage the deployment of adequate Internet services to unserved areas, to authorize and empower the Public Service Commission * * *, in carrying out its statutory responsibilities, and to take every opportunity to advance the economic development of the state.

(2) To these ends, therefore, authority shall be vested in the Mississippi Public Service Commission to regulate public utilities in accordance with the provisions of this title.

(3) (a) The commission shall, in addition to its other powers and duties, be authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to consider and adopt a formula type rate of return evaluation rate which may include provision for the commission to:

(i) Periodically review and adjust, if required, the utility's level of revenues based upon the actual books and records of the utility which are periodically the subject of independent audits and regulatory audits;

(ii) Review the utility's performance in certain areas or categories which may be used by the commission in the manner selected by it which may include rate incentives or penalties so long as such are found to be fair and reasonable and result in a level of revenue which is fair and reasonable; and

(iii) Use such other provisions which may be permitted by this chapter.

(b) When a formula type rate of return evaluation rate with periodic revenue adjustments is adopted by the commission, each periodic revenue adjustment will be separately considered for the purpose of determining whether a hearing is required pursuant to Section 77-3-39(1), and no such hearing shall be required if the amount of any separate periodic adjustment to the level of revenues of the utility is not a "major change" as defined in Section 77-3-37(8).

(c) In administering any such formula type rate of return evaluation rate, the following procedures shall be observed by the commission:

(i) Each periodic evaluation shall be supported with a sworn filing by the utility incorporating the data specified in the formula rate adopted by the commission, and such data shall be verified by the commission; and

(ii) A hearing shall be required, as provided by law, to determine compliance with the formula rate plan and the accuracy of the data prior to any change in the level of revenues if the cumulative change in any calendar year exceeds the greater of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00) or four percent (4%) of the annual revenues of the utility.

(d) The requirements of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this subsection and other applicable provisions of Title 77, Chapter 3, Article 1, Mississippi Code of 1972, which are observed by the commission in administering such rate, are hereby declared to be procedural but are not required to be included in the rate itself.

(4) It is the intention of the Legislature to validate, retroactively to its initial adoption by the commission, any formula type rate, including any revenue adjustments effected pursuant thereto, which has heretofore been adopted by the commission. For the purposes of the retroactive validation and the administration of any formula type rate heretofore adopted by the commission, should the provisions of Title 77, Chapter 3, Article 1, Mississippi Code of 1972, conflict with any provisions of such formula type rate, Title 77, Chapter 3, Article 1, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be interpreted to prevail and the formula type rate shall hereafter be administered or revised to conform to Title 77, Chapter 3, Article 1, Mississippi Code of 1972; provided, however, such conflict, if any, shall not be held to invalidate the retroactive effect of this section upon such rate.

(5) The Public Service Commission is authorized and empowered to enter into contracts with federal agencies, including, but not limited to, the United States Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications Information Agency, or state agencies, for the purposes only of providing services for the collection of data for mapping of broadband availability and related purposes. For purposes of this subsection, "state agencies" include any state agency including, but not limited to, state institutions of higher learning.

SECTION 2. Section 77-3-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

77-3-3. As used in this chapter:

(a) The term "corporation" includes a private or public corporation, a municipality, an association, a joint-stock association or a business trust.

(b) The term "person" includes a natural person, a partnership of two (2) or more persons having a joint or common interest, a cooperative, nonprofit, limited dividend or mutual association, a corporation, or any other legal entity.

(d) The term "public utility" includes persons and corporations, or their lessees, trustees and receivers now or hereafter owning or operating in this state equipment or facilities for:

(i) The generation, manufacture, transmission or distribution of electricity to or for the public for compensation;

(ii) The transmission, sale, sale for resale, or distribution of natural, artificial, or mixed natural and artificial gas to the public for compensation by means of transportation, transmission, or distribution facilities and equipment located within this state; however, the term shall not include the production and gathering of natural gas, the sale of natural gas in or within the vicinity of the field where produced, or the distribution or sale of liquefied petroleum gas or the sale to the ultimate consumer of natural gas for use as a motor vehicle fuel;

(iii) The transmission, conveyance or reception of any message over wire, of writing, signs, signals, pictures and sounds of all kinds by or for the public, where such service is offered to the public for compensation, and the furnishing, or the furnishing and maintenance, of equipment or facilities to the public, for compensation, for use as a private communications system or part thereof; however, no person or corporation not otherwise a public utility within the meaning of this chapter shall be deemed such solely because of engaging in this state in the furnishing, for private use as last aforementioned, and moreover, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to apply to television stations, radio stations, community television antenna services, video services, Voice over Internet Protocol services ("VoIP"), any wireless services including commercial mobile services, Internet protocol ("IP") - enabled services or broadband services; and

(iv) The transmission, distribution, sale or resale of water to the public for compensation, or the collection, transmission, treatment or disposal of sewage, or otherwise operating a sewage disposal service, to or for the public for compensation.

The term "public utility" shall not include any person not otherwise a public utility, who furnishes the services or commodity described in this paragraph only to himself, his employees or tenants as an incident of such employee service or tenancy, if such services are not sold or resold to such tenants or employees on a metered or consumption basis other than the submetering authorized under Section 77-3-97.

A public utility's business other than of the character defined in subparagraphs (i) through (iv) of this paragraph is not subject to the provisions of this chapter.

(e) The term "rate" means and includes every compensation, charge, fare, toll, customer deposit, rental and classification, or the formula or method by which such may be determined, or any of them, demanded, observed, charged or collected by any public utility for any service, product or commodity described in this section, offered by it to the public, and any rules, regulations, practices or contracts relating to any such compensation, charge, fare, toll, rental or classification; however, the term "rate" shall not include charges for electrical current furnished, delivered or sold by one (1) public utility to another for resale.

(f) The word "commission" shall refer to the Public Service Commission of the State of Mississippi, as now existing, unless otherwise indicated.

(g) The term "affiliated interest" or "affiliate" includes:

(i) Any person or corporation owning or holding, directly or indirectly, twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the voting securities of a public utility;

(ii) Any person or corporation in any chain of successive ownership of twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the voting securities of a public utility;

(iii) Any corporation of which fifteen percent (15%) or more of the voting securities is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a public utility;

(iv) Any corporation twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the voting securities of which is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by any person or corporation that owns or controls, directly or indirectly, twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the voting securities of any public utility or by any person or corporation in any chain of successive ownership of twenty-five percent (25%) of such securities;

(v) Any person who is an officer or director of a public utility or of any corporation in any chain of successive ownership of fifteen percent (15%) or more of voting securities of a public utility; or

(vi) Any person or corporation that the commission, after notice and hearing, determines actually exercises any substantial influence or control over the policies and actions of a public utility, or over which a public utility exercises such control, or that is under a common control with a public utility, such control being the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the discretion of the management and policies of another, whether such power is established through ownership of voting securities or by any other direct or indirect means.

However, the term "affiliated interest" or "affiliate" shall not include a joint agency organized pursuant to Section 77-5-701 et seq. nor a member municipality thereof.

(h) The term "facilities" includes all the plant and equipment of a public utility, used or useful in furnishing public utility service, including all real and personal property without limitation, and any and all means and instrumentalities in any manner owned, operated, leased, licensed, used, controlled, furnished or supplied for, by or in connection with its public utility business.

(i) The term "cost of service" includes operating expenses, taxes, depreciation, net revenue and operating revenue requirement at a claimed rate of return from public utility operations.

(j) The term "lead-lag study" includes an analysis to determine the amount of capital which investors in a public utility, the rates of which are subject to regulation under the provisions of this chapter, must provide to meet the day-to-day operating costs of the public utility prior to the time such costs are recovered from customers, and the measurement of (i) the lag in collecting from the customer the cost of providing service, and (ii) the lag in paying the cost of providing service by the public utility.

(k) The term "broadband services" means any service that consists of or includes a high-speed access capability to transmit at a rate that is not less than two hundred (200) kilobits per second either in the upstream or downstream direction and either:

(i) Is used to provide access to the Internet, or

(ii) Provides computer processing, information storage, information content or protocol conversion, including any service applications or information service provided over such high-speed access service.

(l) The term "video services" means video programming services without regard to delivery technology, including Internet protocol technology ("Internet protocol television or IPTV") and video programming provided as a part of a service that enables users to access content, information, email or other services offered over the public Internet. The term "video programming" means any programming as defined in 47 USCS Section 522(20).

(m) The term "Voice over Internet Protocol services" or "VoIP services" means any service that: (i) enables real-time, two-way voice communications that originate from or terminate to the user's location in Internet protocol or any successor protocol; (ii) uses a broadband connection from the user's location; and (iii) permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched telephone network.

(n) The term "commercial mobile services" means any services as defined in 47 USCS Section 332(d).

(o) The term "Internet protocol-enabled services" or "IP-enabled services" means any service, capability, functionality, or application provided using Internet protocol, or any successor protocol, that enables an end user to send or receive a communication in Internet protocol format, or any successor format, regardless of whether the communications is voice, data or video.

(p) "Broadband service provider" means an entity that provides broadband services to others on a wholesale basis or to end-use customers on a retail basis.

(q) "Broadband operator" means a broadband service provider that uses the electric delivery system of any rate-regulated public utility of the type as defined in paragraph (d)(i) of this section with the rate-regulated utility's consent to provide broadband services.

(r) "Electric delivery system" means the poles, lines, fiber, cables, broadband system, materials, equipment, easements and other facilities or properties used by any rate-regulated public utility of the type as defined in paragraph (d)(i) of this section to deliver or facilitate the delivery, sale or use of electric energy.

(s) The term "enhanced grid investments" means investments in technologies and services that support and improve the operational performance, service reliability, resiliency and security of the electric delivery system.

(t) The term "unserved area" means an area lacking access to adequate Internet service.

Nothing contained in this paragraph shall apply to retail services that are tariffed by the commission.

SECTION 3. Section 77-3-44, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

77-3-44. (1) Any rate-regulated electric or natural gas public utility with certificated service area in Mississippi may undertake economic development activities, whether directly or indirectly, including activities such as providing capital, or investment in or acquisition and development of business or industrial sites and the necessary infrastructure or services needed to attract new or existing businesses or industry, to create or maintain employment opportunities, or expansion of fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments, including those which provide customer access to modern enhanced services, or otherwise to positively impact or in some manner promote the sale of electric energy or natural gas within its certificated service area. Any facilities developed, constructed or acquired in support of the activities described in this section, including fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments, including those which provide customer access to modern enhanced services, for which a certificate of public convenience and necessity or other commission approval has been granted after July 1, 2015, as well as any capital investment in natural gas reserves made directly or indirectly by an electric or natural gas public utility to foster long-term stability in the cost of fuel, may be deemed used and useful in the provision of electric or natural gas service regardless of whether or not any end-use customers are taking service from said facilities or investment and otherwise recoverable through the utility's rates.

(2) (a) Notwithstanding the foregoing, to further expand fiber optic infrastructure in the state, any rate-regulated public utility of the type as defined in Section 77-3-3(d)(i) may grant permission to broadband operators or broadband service providers to use the electric delivery system, including the fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments of the rate-regulated public utility to provide broadband services or other similar services as defined in Section 77-3-3(k) through (o), including to extend adequate Internet services to unserved areas, subject to the competitive safeguards in Section 4 of this act. The rate-regulated public utility shall not allow the use of its electric delivery system by a broadband operator to provide broadband services to diminish the reliability of the electric delivery system.

(b) To further expand fiber optic infrastructure and economic development in the state, any public utility, including electric cooperatives, of the type as defined in Section 77-3-3(d)(i), may grant permission to a retail customer with a nonaggregated load greater than twenty (20) megawatts to construct, install or maintain above or underground fiber optic infrastructure on the public utility's existing right-of-way of its electric delivery system.

(c) In instances where a landowner has previously been compensated for the use of his land through a right-of-way instrument with a rate-regulated public utility, the use of the rate-regulated public utility's electric delivery system for the provision of broadband services to a broadband operator or broadband service provider or use of the rate-regulated public utility's existing right-of-way on its electric delivery system by a retail customer to construct, install, or maintain above or underground fiber optic infrastructure shall not be considered an additional burden on the real property upon which the rate-regulated public utility's electric delivery system is located and shall not require the broadband operator, broadband service provider or retail customer to obtain the consent of anyone having an interest in the real property upon which the rate-regulated public utility's electric delivery system is located. If a portion of a rate-regulated public utility's electric delivery system is used by a broadband operator, broadband service provider or retail customer for the provision of broadband services to construct, install, or maintain above or underground fiber optic infrastructure and the landowner of the real property on which such portion is located believes his property has been damaged by such use, the landowner may petition the circuit court of the county in which the property is situated for any damages to which the landowner may be entitled under this subsection.

(i) The petition allowed and damages recoverable under this subsection shall be the landowner's exclusive remedy, and the landowner shall not be entitled to assert any other theory, claims or causes of action nor recover any other damages, punitive damages, costs, attorneys' fees, or other relief.

(ii) The recoverable damages, if any, shall be recoverable only from the broadband operator or retail customer and not from the rate-regulated electric public utility.

(iii) The damages recoverable shall be an amount equal to the difference between 1. the fair market value of the landowner's interest in the real property immediately before the rate-regulated electric public utility's electric delivery system on the owner's property was first used by the broadband operator, broadband service provider or retail customer for the provision of broadband services, and 2. the fair market value of the landowner's interest in the real property immediately after the rate-regulated electric public utility's electric delivery system on the landowner's property was first used by the broadband operator or retail customer for the provision of broadband services. The before and after values must be established by the testimony of a qualified real estate appraiser. The damages, if any, shall be fixed and shall not be deemed to continue, accumulate or accrue. The court shall, as part of its judgment, vest the rights granted by the rate-regulated public utility to the broadband operator or retail customer and his respective successors and assigns for the placement or use of a broadband system on or as part of the electric delivery system. The judgment will have the same effect of a conveyance executed in due form of law and shall run with the land; and a certified copy of said judgment may be filed by the broadband operator or retail customer in the land records of the county in which the subject property is located.

(iv) Evidence of past, current or future revenues or profits derived or to be derived by a broadband operator or retail customer from providing broadband services is not admissible for any purpose in any such proceeding.

(v) The landowner shall not be entitled to any damages or other relief relating to any broadband system or portion thereof or any fiber optic infrastructure by the retail customer that is located on the landowner's property and which is used by the rate-regulated electric public utility for its own operations.

(vi) The landowner shall not be entitled to any relief or damages if an easement has been granted to the broadband operator or retail customer if the landowner has authorized the rate-regulated electric public utility to use or allow others to use its electric delivery system for the provision of broadband services, or if the landowner has authorized the rate-regulated electric public utility to use its existing right-of-way to construct, install, or maintain above or underground fiber optic infrastructure.

(d) The total revenue collected by a rate-regulated public utility, derived from leasing their fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments and associated use of the rate-regulated public utility's right-of-way, shall all be credited back to the electric service customers annually in a method determined by the Public Service Commission.

(3) Nothing in this section shall affect, abrogate or eliminate in any way any obligation of a rate-regulated public utility or broadband operator to comply with any applicable safety and permitting requirements of any railroad company or any state governmental body or agency with respect to property that is held or controlled by such railroad company or state governmental body or agency, as the case may be, and in, on, over or across which an easement is located.

(4) Except for subsection (2)(b) of this section, nothing in this act shall be interpreted to affect the provisions of Sections 77-17-1 through 77-17-15, also known as the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act.

SECTION 4. (1) To the extent a rate-regulated electric public utility grants permission to any broadband operator or broadband service provider to use any part of the utility's electric delivery system, including, without limitation, its fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments, it must grant such permission, on a first-come first-served basis, to all other broadband operators and broadband service providers on a nondiscriminatory basis.

(2) A rate-regulated electric public utility shall not offer or condition the provision of electric services, nor shall the rate-regulated electric public utility offer more favorable rates, terms or conditions for electric services, based on a customer decision to purchase broadband services from any broadband provider or broadband operator.

(3) The Public Service Commission shall enforce subsection (2) of this section. Before a rate-regulated electric public utility can grant permission to any broadband operator or broadband service provider to use any part of the utility's electric delivery system, including without limitation its fiber optic infrastructure and enhanced grid investments, the Public Service Commission must have approved such infrastructure and investments.

SECTION 5. Section 5 through 8 of this act shall be known and may be cited as the Mississippi Broadband Accessibility Act.

SECTION 6. The Legislature finds that the availability of high-speed broadband services, with the preference of speeds of twenty-five (25) megabits per second of download speed and three (3) megabits per second of upload speed or greater, in unserved rural Mississippi is important for economic development, education, health care, and emergency services in Mississippi, and that grants and other incentives set forth in Sections 5 through 8 of this act will further those objectives by encouraging new investment in broadband infrastructure.

SECTION 7. For the purposes of Sections 5 through 8 of this act, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) "End user" means a residential, business, institutional, or government entity that uses broadband services for its own purposes and does not resell such broadband services to other entities. An Internet service provider (ISP) and mobile wireless service provider are not an end-user for the purposes of Sections 5 through 8 of this act.

(b) "Middle mile project" means a broadband infrastructure project that does not provide broadband service to end-users or to end-user devices.

(c) "Minimum service threshold" means a connection to the Internet that provides capacity for transmission at an average speed per customer of at least twenty-five (25) megabits (Mbps) per second downstream and at least three (3) megabits (Mbps) per second upstream.

(d) "Rural area" means any area within this state not included within the boundaries of any incorporated city or town having a population in excess of twenty-five thousand (25,000) inhabitants, according to the latest federal decennial census.

(e) "Unserved area" means any rural area in which there is not at least one provider of terrestrial broadband service that is either: (i) offering a connection to the Internet meeting the minimum service threshold; or (ii) is required, under the terms of the Federal Universal Service Fund or other federal or state grant, to provide a connection to the Internet at speeds meeting the minimum service threshold by March 28, 2023.

SECTION 8. (1) The Director of Mississippi Public Utilities Staff shall establish and administer the broadband accessibility grant program for the purpose of promoting the deployment and adoption of broadband Internet access services to unserved areas. By August 1, 2021, the director shall adopt rules and policies to administer the program and begin to accept applications for grants, and shall adopt such rules as may be necessary to meet the future needs of the grant program.

(2) The program shall be administered pursuant to policies developed by the Public Utilities Staff in compliance with Sections 5 through 8 of this act. The policies shall provide for the awarding of grants to nongovernmental entities that are cooperatives, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, or other private business entities that provide broadband services. Nothing in Sections 5 through 8 of this act shall expand the authority under state law of any entity to provide broadband service.

(3) There is hereby created the Mississippi Broadband Accessibility Fund as a special fund in the State Treasury. The fund is subject to appropriations by the Legislature and gifts, grants, and other donations received by the Public Utilities Staff for the broadband accessibility grant program or fund. The Public Utilities Staff may not spend appropriations for the program for purposes other than those listed in this section. Any monies appropriated to the Public Utilities Staff for broadband grants that are unspent at the end of a fiscal year shall be carried over for use by the program in the next fiscal year. The Public Utilities Staff shall develop rules ensuring that expenses incurred to administer the program must not exceed the lesser of seven percent (7%) of the total amount appropriated for the program in any fiscal year or Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00). Monies in the fund shall be invested by the State Treasurer for the sole benefit of the fund.

(4) (a) Individual grants awarded by the Public Utilities Staff under this section may only be awarded for projects in unserved areas, and may not exceed the lesser of:

(i) Thirty-five percent (35%) of the project costs; or

(ii) One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00) for projects that will be capable of transmitting broadband signals at or above the minimum service threshold.

(b) The Public Utilities Staff shall ensure that not less than forty percent (40%) of funds appropriated for grants be utilized in unincorporated areas of the state.

(c) Subject to the limitations in this subsection (4), grants shall be awarded pursuant to the service criteria developed by the Public Utilities Staff, with priority given to projects that meet any of the following:

(i) Seek to leverage grant funds through private investment and extension of existing infrastructure;

(ii) Serve locations with demonstrated community support, including, but not limited to, documented support from local government;

(iii) Demonstrate the operator's technical and managerial capabilities to complete the project within two (2) years of the grant;

(iv) Demonstrate the applicants' necessary financial resources;

(v) Are most cost effective and technically efficient in that they propose to serve the highest number of unserved homes, businesses and community anchor points for the least cost and best level of service, emphasizing projects including the highest broadband speeds;

(vi) Provide material broadband enhancement to hospitals located in rural areas; and

(vii) Support local libraries in this state for the purpose of assisting the libraries in offering digital literacy training pursuant to state library and archive guidelines.

(d) For the purposes of awarding grants, the Public Utilities Staff shall take into consideration the average pole attachment rates that a grant applicant charges to an unaffiliated entity, provided that this paragraph (d) shall not apply to a public utility.

(e) In order to promote the deployment of grant funds in an inclusive manner that is consistent with the racial, gender, geographic, urban, rural, and economic diversity of the state, the Public Utilities Staff may give additional consideration to an applicant that provides documentation that it has been certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. For projects funded under Sections 5 through 8 of this act, the Public Utilities Staff shall encourage grant applicants to use vendors and subcontractors that have been certified as Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.

(5) For each fiscal year in which grant funds are available, the Public Utilities Staff shall accept applications within a 90-day grant window that it shall establish. Applications for eligible projects will be evaluated according to a scoring system developed by the Public Utilities Staff that incorporates the priorities listed in this section, with grant awards published within ninety (90) days after expiration of the filing window. Grant applications shall be published by the Public Utilities Staff on the Internet at the end of the filing window, and existing service providers shall have thirty (30) business days from the date of publication to file objections to the eligibility of a proposed project. The Public Utilities Staff shall address any objections within thirty (30) days of submission and shall make any appropriate changes to grant awards based on a finding of ineligibility resulting from such protest. Subject to such protest procedure, grants issued by the Public Utilities Staff shall be conditioned upon compliance with the terms of the grant but shall not otherwise be revocable. Providers' grants shall be paid within thirty (30) days upon the Public Utilities Staff receiving written certification of the completion of the project and evidence of compliance with the terms of the grant as prescribed by the Public Utilities Staff.

(6) Grants shall be conditioned on project completion within two (2) years of awarding of the grant. If a recipient fails to complete a project within the two-year deadline due to reasons other than delay caused by a government entity, the Public Utilities Staff may revoke the grant in its entirety and rededicate the funds to a new recipient.

(7) The Public Utilities Staff shall condition the release of any grant funds awarded under Sections 5 through 8 of this act on both of the following:

(a) The progressive completion, as measured on not more than a quarterly basis, of the approved project.

(b) Operational testing, when possible, to confirm the level of service proposed in the grant application. Such regulations shall not exceed in degree or differ in kind from testing and reporting requirements imposed on the grant recipient by the Federal Communications Commission, as adjusted for the service specifications in the Public Utilities Staff grant agreement.

(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, eligible projects shall include any of the following:

(a) Projects to serve unserved areas in which the grant applicant is either or both: (i) an existing or future service provider which has or will receive support through federal universal service funding programs designed specifically to encourage broadband deployment in an area without broadband access; or (ii) an existing or future service provider which has or will receive other forms of federal or state financial support or assistance, such as a grant or loan from the United States Department of Agriculture; provided, however, that any award of state funds under this section, when combined with other forms of state or federal support or assistance dedicated to the project, other than interest-bearing loans, may not exceed sixty percent (60%) of the total project costs. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a grant applicant who has not previously received any federal or state funds, grants or loans for broadband deployment from applying for and receiving grant funds under this section.

(b) Middle mile projects, where the applicant demonstrates that the project will connect other service providers eligible for grants under this section with broadband infrastructure further upstream in order to enable the providers to offer broadband service to end-users; provided that eligible projects under this paragraph (b) may include projects in an unserved area or a rural area that does not meet the definition of an unserved area but otherwise meets the requirements of this section, for which the grant applicant demonstrates, by specific evidence, the need for greater broadband speeds, capacity, or service which is not being offered by an existing service provider.

(c) Projects to provide broadband service to a specific hospital, public school, public safety, or economic development site in a rural area that does not meet the definition of an unserved area but otherwise meets the requirements of this section, for which the grant applicant demonstrates, by specific evidence, the need for greater broadband speeds, capacity, or service which is not being offered by an existing service provider.

(d) Grants issued under paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection (8) shall not exceed forty percent (40%) of the total funds appropriated for grants on an annual basis.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021, and shall stand repealed from and after June 30, 2021.