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Colorado Passes New Broadband Laws, Takes Aim At Landlord Monopolies
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The Colorado legislature has passed several new broadband bills that should aid affordable broadband deployment in the state. According to a state announcement, the new bills do everything from expanding the leeway the state has in spending broadband funding, to providing some tax breaks to providers heavily invested in rural deployment.
Colorado has been a key player in the municipal broadband space, and is home to several major municipal broadband deployments (from Longmont’s Nextlight to Fort Collins’ Connexion) that have been proven inspirational to municipalities across the country.
Several of the new laws should prove helpful to municipal broadband operations and private sector ISPs alike.
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HB 24-1334, for example, dictates that a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) building owner can’t deny a broadband provider access to the property to install broadband infrastructure. Muni operations in places like Dryden, New York have told ILSR repeatedly that they often face difficulty accessing MDU properties.
Sometimes property owners are simply obstinate or slow to respond to inquiries. But other times they’ve actively worked with regional monopolies to strike exclusive building arrangements in a bid to elbow out competitors. Federal regulators have attempted to outlaw the practice at several different points with a mixed track record of success and enforcement.
The FCC has also courted controversy with a proposed ban on “bulk billing,” a practice where a landlord buys broadband access at wholesale rates, then often includes broadband and TV access for all tenants as part of the rent. But there are concerns such a blanket ban could stifle the cost efficiencies such agreements can provide, reducing ISP incentives to serve MDUs.
Strengthening The Financial Incentives For Deployment
Other new Colorado laws, such as HB 24-1036 continues the Rural Broadband Equipment Sales and Use Tax Refund, which lets broadband providers receive a refund on state sales some property taxes for equipment installed in certain target areas (usually rural) that are being prioritized in a bid to expand affordable broadband access.
HB 24-1336, meanwhile, expands the ways in which Colorado can use broadband funding, something the state says will expand support for middle-mile infrastructure, fiber networks and high-cost areas, but aid local governments and nonprofits.
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And HB 24-1234 ensures the High-Cost Support Mechanism will continue operation under the Public Utilities Commission to provide financial aid for broadband in rural areas, with the Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) administering and distributing funds.
“These broadband laws represent significant progress for expanding broadband in Colorado,” Brandy Reitter, Executive Director of the Colorado Broadband Office, said of the new bills. “They empower the state to utilize broadband funding to drive connectivity and progress and we appreciate the work of the sponsors and the Governor signing these bills into law.”
Colorado continues to be a hotbed of municipal broadband deployment thanks to another notable piece of recent legislation, namely the 2023 repeal (SB 23-183) of state-wide restrictions on municipal broadband lobbied for by regional telecom monopolies. The Colorado Broadband Office hopes to connect 99 percent of Colorado households to broadband by the end of 2027, aided heavily by an unprecedented flood of federal subsidies.
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