Computer Technology Committee

Filed: 3/10/2005

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3650

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3650 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4     "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Integrated Telecommunications Outreach, Outcomes Planning, and
6 Digital Literacy Act.
 
7     Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that the
8 following needs are essential to statewide telecommunications
9 technological infrastructure:
10     (1) The need for affordable telephone and Internet
11 connections for all Illinoisans. The daily convenience and
12 necessity of residents, businesses, community institutions,
13 and enterprises calls for cooperation by all to facilitate a
14 range of telephone and telecommunication services that enable
15 all persons, enterprises, and institutions to connect with each
16 other for the basic purposes of life, safety, health, and
17 productive activity and for the purpose of getting Illinois
18 online in convenient and affordable advanced communication and
19 broadband as a linked, digitally literate set of regions that
20 are competitive in our world today.
21     (2) The need for digital literacy and technological skills
22 to use Internet tools and improve citizen productivity. The
23 safety, health, and social cohesion of all individuals,
24 families, and communities in Illinois, as well as the speed of

 

 

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1 expansion of voice, data, and visual communication services in
2 many modes calls for multiyear cooperation for systematic
3 outreach to all Illinois residents to understand their
4 telephone and telecommunications options, availability, costs,
5 guarantees, and qualities of service, including advertisement
6 of choices and the availability of consumer protection, the
7 development of means for systematic feedback about the quality
8 of service and its impacts on many kinds of customers, and for
9 the purpose of sustaining systematic means for user-friendly
10 ways to continually advance digital literacy to use the
11 increasingly complex electronic and telephone-linked tools
12 that are new necessities of life not only for average residents
13 who may be without the stability and resources of daily access
14 to full phone service.
15     (3) The need for assistance in providing personal
16 information management tools for average residents. The volume
17 of telephone and telecommunications-based personal and mass
18 communication calls for designing telephone and
19 telecommunications choices to enable all residents,
20 enterprises, and institutions to manage and have privacy in
21 communication through consumer service tools provided by many
22 public, private, and community providers, as they communicate
23 with each other for basic purposes of life, liberty, and
24 happiness; which include using telephone and
25 telecommunications tools for more advanced purposes of
26 connecting with the Internet online services for public
27 services, schools and learning, health care, cultural and
28 community arts, employment, economic opportunity, commercial
29 and consumer purchasing, and transportation and local access
30 places in their community dialogs and planning.
31     (4) The need for cooperative local, regional, and Statewide
32 planning for basic telecommunications and broadband extension
33 to all Illinois citizens. The many kinds and levels of basic
34 and advanced services and the convergence of provision by

 

 

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1 converging modes of wireline, cable, wireless satellite,
2 wireless towers, wireless locations, utility lines, and voice
3 over Internet call for statewide cooperation in better data
4 collection and sharing information about current and newly
5 emerging availability, choices, and costs of basic and advanced
6 telephone and telecommunications and evaluation of service
7 quality and use.
8     (5) The need for assistance to residents with special basic
9 telecommunication and assistive technology needs. There are
10 social needs for better information by many kinds of consumers
11 who have limited telephone and telecommunications choices,
12 including needs to understand special programs for basic life
13 connections and assistive services, as well as opportunities to
14 benefit from stable telecommunications addresses and special
15 service designated for universal service connectivity.
16     (6) The need for better public access to telecommunications
17 services. There are needs for all consumers to better
18 understand how to use public access information services,
19 including call-in and call-out services of 911, use of 411
20 personal services and electronic directory assistance, 311
21 local government information, and new 211 public and community
22 human services.
23     (7) The need for better cooperation among local, county,
24 regional, and Statewide telecommunications planning and
25 outcomes tracking. There are needs for local, county, and
26 statewide public officials and planning bodies to have better
27 information on telephone and telecommunications capacity and
28 usage and digital and technological skills in order to
29 undertake multi-year plans and public infrastructure
30 investments, to communicate the telecommunications readiness
31 of particular facilities or areas, and reduce the costs to
32 local taxpayers for basic infrastructure, as well as for
33 emergency safety and core health connections services, which
34 often require advanced telecommunications for life supporting

 

 

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1 uses and greatest savings in public and resident costs and
2 efficiencies in network usage
3     (8) The need for lesser connected residents to maintain
4 access and technological skills at home, at work, and in public
5 settings in order for Illinois to compete in the world
6 marketplace. There are needs for all Illinois residents, and
7 especially residents with less than average resources or in
8 lesser connected communities or with special needs, to gain and
9 maintain technological and digital literacy skills to use basic
10 and advanced telecommunications in homes, at work, in schools,
11 libraries, community centers, and health care facilities, and
12 in public agencies and in settings, including at public and
13 commercial information kiosks or information ATM machines;
14 including the need to systematically increase the
15 telecommunications use capacity of the Illinois workforce to
16 reduce unemployment and underemployment in Illinois, which
17 continues at substantially higher levels than national
18 averages and which lags in terms of hiring for professional,
19 technical, and entry-level employment in the face of regional
20 and worldwide employment.
21     (9) The need for cooperation among State agencies
22 concerning telecommunications access and technological skills
23 programs to increase stakeholder investments from public and
24 private parties. There are needs for cooperation among many
25 State agencies, including cooperation among the Department of
26 Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Illinois Commerce
27 Commission, and the many programs that have responsibility for
28 outreach concerning skill building, public benefit access, and
29 community quality of life planning and implementation.
30     (10) The need for a public-private coordinating committee
31 to work with the Department of Commerce and Economic
32 Opportunity and its Advisory Committee on Elimination of the
33 Digital Divide to integrate outreach and multi-year
34 sustainable approaches. Coordinating and cooperating parties

 

 

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1 need to include telecommunications providers,
2 telecommunications-related technology product and service
3 providers, community technology providers, consumer interest
4 and economic development and health and safety organizations,
5 community service and research programs of institutions of
6 higher education and community service and technological
7 skills programs of elementary and secondary education, public
8 agencies and local and regional planning bodies in all regions
9 of the State, and other State and federal agencies and offices
10 to assist in enabling all interested parties in participating
11 in outreach, outcomes, planning, and digital literacy
12 activities, in identifying appropriate sources of revenues for
13 specific programs, and in developing new sources of endowment
14 or program matching funds, including through programs and
15 partnerships to share information about the synergies and
16 shared data and outcomes information on Digital Literacy and
17 Technology Access programs for underserved areas and
18 populations in the State.
 
19     Section 10. Telecommunications outreach cooperation.
20 Subject to appropriation, the Department of Commerce and
21 Economic Opportunity, as part of the Director's responsibility
22 for regional planning, technology, industrial competitiveness,
23 and workforce skills, and for communication with
24 telecommunications carriers and others in relation to the
25 Eliminate the Digital Divide Law, shall establish a
26 telecommunications outreach program within the Division of
27 Technology and Industrial Competitiveness, in consultation
28 with the Illinois Commerce Commission. The telecommunications
29 outreach program shall do all of the following:
30         (1) Convene a working group of all public agencies,
31     telecommunications providers, and community and consumer
32     enterprises or institutions that have substantial outreach
33     programs concerning educating residents, especially

 

 

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1     low-income, less connected, and special needs residents,
2     to catalog telecommunications outreach and marketing
3     programs, audiences, communication processes, and
4     potential means of cooperation.
5         (2) Undertake an expanded outreach and marketing
6     process among telecommunications providers and others to
7     secure contributions to the Eliminate the Digital Divide
8     Trust Program, in order to highlight the locations of
9     public access community technology centers and services,
10     linked with all State departments and offices, and to
11     encourage the acquisition and maintenance of basic and more
12     advanced technological and digital literacy skills linked
13     with Internet and other telecommunications in underserved
14     communities.
15         (3) Establish and undertake a program of outreach to
16     implement a Good Samaritan Computer program to solicit
17     voluntary contributions to assist low-income individuals
18     and families in purchasing computers, coordinated with
19     other outreach and solicitation programs for individual
20     contributions.
21         (4) Establish among parties participating under this
22     Section and other Sections established in this Act, a
23     public-private coordinating committee with responsibility
24     to help identify and secure multi-year investment or
25     endowment funds and program funds, including through
26     federal, national, and international programs, including
27     through cooperative outreach programs and through
28     matching, formal or informal partnerships or cooperation,
29     including tracking outcomes and research data, through an
30     annual review of achievements of programs of the Department
31     and others, through opportunities for local access plans in
32     all communities to participate, and other means to expand
33     digital literacy and technology access through an
34     Eliminate the Digital Divide Community Trust process or

 

 

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1     future structure as a local-State stakeholder community to
2     assist in improving the quality of lives and strengthening
3     the family and social networks of low income and other
4     lesser connected residents and entities.
 
5     Section 15. Telephone and telecommunications service
6 outcomes, data sharing, and planning. Subject to
7 appropriation, the Department of Commerce and Economic
8 Opportunity, in cooperation with the Illinois Commerce
9 Commission and the Illinois Attorney General, shall establish a
10 Telecommunications Service Outcomes, Data Sharing, and Local
11 Planning program. The program shall:
12         (1) Convene a local-State-federal telecommunications
13     cooperative data collection and sharing working group to
14     make recommendations on State-federal cooperation,
15     including basic and broadband telecommunications data from
16     FCC form 477, to assist decision-makers, planners, and
17     consumer protection parties at the State and local levels
18     to gain better data to make decisions concerning all modes
19     of telecommunications and information infrastructure.
20         (2) Establish and undertake a regional-local
21     telecommunications planning process in cooperation with 7
22     to 10 regional telecommunications service areas in
23     Illinois, regional planning councils and their member
24     public officials, other parties within multi-county areas,
25     nonprofit community development, technology and media
26     networks, and telecommunications consumer groups in these
27     regions, along the lines of using an RFP process to provide
28     grants to community telecommunications planning processes.
29         (3) Establish and undertake special community
30     telecommunication local access planning for sustainability
31     process for community-based collaboratives or consortia,
32     with grant funding available from Department programs,
33     from public-private partnerships, or from the Eliminate

 

 

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1     the Digital Divide Program or a combination of sources, and
2     to plan for programs that assist low income families to
3     secure loans and access to special discount programs of
4     electronic product companies.
5         (4) Undertake demonstration telephone and
6     telecommunications quality of service feedback assemblies
7     in a number of local access places in areas of 5,000 up to
8     60,000 residents in each telecommunications service
9     region, with an initial focus on low-income or otherwise
10     lesser connected communities, with a purpose of bringing
11     together a cross-section of consumers of all modes of
12     telecommunications to provide systematic feedback on top
13     priorities for telecommunications infrastructure or
14     services to improve the quality of families and
15     communities, and specific improvements in the quality,
16     availability, costs, and information about each
17     telecommunications provider or service. The assemblies
18     shall be hosted by non-profit, educational, community, or
19     public agencies or enterprises that are not substantial
20     providers of telecommunications services and that shall
21     work closely with regional planning councils and related
22     community development and consumer services networks in
23     the area.
 
24     Section 20. Technological literacy trust grants and
25 outcome tracking initiative. Subject to appropriation, the
26 Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall
27 establish an Eliminate the Digital Divide Community Trust
28 Program as a continuation and expansion of the Eliminate the
29 Digital Divide grant program, in cooperation with other State
30 agencies, community technology networks, consumer
31 representatives, education and higher education agencies and
32 extension services, regional planning councils, local public
33 agency officials, and public, nonprofit, and business

 

 

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1 institutions or enterprises that provide grants and other
2 resources for telephone, telecommunications and related
3 quality of life services, training, or infrastructure and in
4 consultation with the advisory committee on elimination of the
5 digital divide. The Trust Program may receive voluntary
6 contributions directly from members of the public, including
7 any entity, and from the voluntary contribution programs of
8 telecommunications providers authorized under the Eliminate
9 the Digital Divide Law.
10     The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall
11 do all of the following:
12         (1) Provide "Train the Trainer" grants, other
13     professional development grants, and evaluation-linked
14     grants to determine the outcomes and the impacts of digital
15     literacy and technology access programs of the Department
16     of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and other State
17     agencies and significant regional or statewide programs to
18     entities or consortia that are region-based or
19     statewide-based community technology centers or networks
20     that participate in the broadly-based annual
21     Telecommunications Conference on Economic Development and
22     telehealth sponsored by the University of Illinois
23     extension program and others.
24         (2) Provide "Community Innovation" grants of between
25     $5,000 to $50,000 to nonprofit community-based
26     organizations to demonstrate innovative means to host
27     consumer and community feedback activities on the impact of
28     telecommunication access and technological skills on
29     quality of life, including assemblies in local access
30     places, in low-income areas and other underserved
31     populations and communities with special and assistive
32     needs, and for purposes of developing community
33     telecommunication plans, or community technology center
34     plans, to extend access and skills, including in homes,

 

 

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1     work locations, community technology centers, and public
2     settings, including information kiosks, and including
3     through innovative job-producing and revenue-generating
4     community enterprises, including in the expanding areas of
5     processing, demanufacturing and distribution of used
6     technologies, undertaking electronic product recycling
7     activities, and the development and distribution of
8     personal information management tools and information ATM
9     cards in the community, either directly or through
10     statewide or regional circuit consortia with substantial
11     experience in assisting such organizations.
12         (3) In consultation with the Advisory Committee on
13     Elimination of the Digital Divide, provide "Family and
14     Social Network Strengthening" grants of an amount to be
15     determined to innovative organizations or enterprises that
16     have the capacity to provide and sustain Personal
17     Information Management tools and services, including
18     assistive technologies, e-mail and e-personal
19     applications, and information ATM cards, at low-cost or
20     no-cost to low income and other underserved families and
21     individuals to enable them to acquire skills and develop
22     and strengthen links with ongoing consumer services and
23     Community Technology Centers and other important work and
24     family support networks and with special focus on
25     regionwide and statewide sustainable networks and
26     services.
27         (4) Co-sponsor an annual statewide community
28     technology center professional development conference and
29     any regional professional development online resources and
30     calendar activities recommended by the advisory committee
31     on elimination of the digital divide.
32         (5) Convene a stakeholder conference on resources to
33     eliminate the digital divide.
34         (6) Administer the resources in the current Eliminate

 

 

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1     the Digital Divide grant program, with interest on funds in
2     the program to be used by the program and with funds
3     received by the program from contributions from residents
4     and stakeholders in digital literacy, including from
5     telecommunications formulaic or other contributions, not
6     subject to reduction or use by the general treasury
7     reduction or use by the general treasury and with authority
8     to make grants of up to $75,000 for technological skills
9     and telecommunication and technology access to Community
10     Technology Centers and to "Train the Trainer" grants
11     provided for in this Section and to enable Community
12     Technology Centers to assist participants in understanding
13     and using Personal Information Management tools as part of
14     regular training and access services and as a means to
15     assist those Centers in developing on-going services to
16     participants and sources of earned revenue.
17         (7) Prepare an annual report on Digital Literacy and
18     Technology and Telecommunication Access and their impact
19     on community and economic development in the State,
20     including a summary of outcomes since the initial grants
21     under the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law, by February 1
22     of each year.
23         (8) Propose a formal Eliminate the Digital Divide
24     Community Trust structure or entity involving
25     public-private-community partnership activity, in
26     consultation with coordinating and cooperating parties
27     involved with activities under this Act, that has the
28     capacity to bring resources from State and local agencies,
29     telecommunications providers, business and charitable
30     entities, and cooperation among those parties, including
31     opportunities to apply for federal and other public,
32     business, or charitable grants, funds, or revenue sources
33     and that may undertake activities on October 1, 2006 or
34     January 1, 2007.".