A. The broadband office shall identify federal and nongovernmental broadband funding assistance opportunities for local governments, public educational institutions, state agencies and tribal governments and shall publish a list of those opportunities in a manner that can be searched on a county-by-county basis.
B. The broadband office may be the applicant for such funding assistance for all state agencies except the department of transportation.
C. State agencies and public educational institutions shall coordinate with the broadband office concerning the purchase of broadband infrastructure and services with the goal of obtaining best-value or bulk pricing agreements where practicable.
D. The broadband office shall coordinate with and may enter into memoranda of understanding with federal, local government, state and tribal government agencies to create an integrated system of permits, licenses and rules for broadband infrastructure across all governmental jurisdictions within each region of the state, including the creation of a centralized repository, and an expedited review process for rights of way use applications, with the goal of creating uniform coordinated permitting and licensing requirements statewide. The broadband office shall develop proposals for government agencies at the local, county and state levels to build and pay for broadband networks, upon request for such assistance.
History: Laws 2021, ch. 123, § 4.
Effective dates. — Laws 2021, ch. 123 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 18, 2021, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.