S105 - 2021 Appropriations Act. (SL 2021-180)

Overview: Section 38.1 of S.L. 2021-180 amends the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Program, a broadband infrastructure grant program operated by the Broadband Infrastructure Office (Office) of the Department of Information Technology (Department) to provide grants to broadband providers and cooperatives for projects designed to extend broadband service to unserved areas in economically distressed counties of the State, by making the following changes:

• Clarifies that project area protection can be maintained for the duration of a project that is in good standing.
• Modifies the requirements relating to the protest period, including a reduction of the period to 20 days, and detailing the eligibility of protests and the evidence and criteria used by the Department to evaluate a protest.
• Enables the Office to evaluate applications that utilize a partnership, and clarifies the types of partnerships that are eligible under the program.
• Modifies the scoring metrics, matching requirements, and grant thresholds.

This section became effective November 18, 2021.