GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 377*

Short Title:  GPAC/Telecommunications Reorganization.  	(Public)
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Sponsors: (by request) Representatives Robinson, Barnes, Blue, Diamont, Hackney, Hensley, H. Hunter, G. Miller, and Nesbitt.
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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February 25, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE CONCERNING STATE GOVERNMENT TELECOMMUNICATIONS GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT, AND OPERATIONS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The Information Resource Management Commission (hereafter referred to as "IRMC" ) shall prepare and adopt, not later than December 31, 1993, written guidelines that specify those responsibilities that pertain to the operation of the State Telecommunication System (hereafter referred to as "STS" ) and those responsibilities that pertain to the operation of the State agency telecommunications functions.
Sec. 2.  The State Information Processing Services (hereafter referred to as "SIPS" ) shall prepare a plan for the delivery of telecommunications services to State agencies and include in the plan techniques for ensuring that State agency user needs are given priority over the interests of telecommunications equipment and service vendors.  SIPS shall present the plan for delivery of telecommunications services to the IRMC not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 3.  SIPS shall prepare a plan for implementing its "bandwidth on demand" concept and submit the plan to the IRMC not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 4.  The IRMC shall prepare a plan for consolidating any multiple voice, video, and data networks within or across State agencies that it deems appropriate to consolidate.  Upon adoption of the plan, the IRMC shall present the plan to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.
Sec. 5.  SIPS shall evaluate and revise its telecommunications disaster recovery plan and coordinate that plan with the disaster recovery plan for the State computer center.  SIPS shall present its revised telecommunications disaster recovery plan to the Information Resources Management Commission not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 6.  The IRMC and The University of North Carolina jointly shall prepare a written evaluation of the costs, benefits, and feasibility of consolidating the portions of the University of North Carolina Education Computing Service's (hereafter referred to as "UNCECS" ) wide area network that are currently owned by the UNCECS onto the STS's North Carolina Integrated Network (hereafter referred to as "NCIN" ) and the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (hereafter referred to as "MCNC" ) CONCERT data network.  The IRMC and The University of North Carolina shall jointly present the written evaluation to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 7.  The IRMC and the Administrative Office of the Courts jointly shall prepare a written evaluation of the costs, benefits, and feasibility of transferring ownership of the Administrative Office of the Courts' network back to the ownership and management of the State Telecommunications System.  The evaluation shall include an independent study verifying that incremental operating costs (including incremental overhead costs) are lower under STS, and a service level agreement between STS and the Administrative Office of the Courts that meets the Administrative Office of the Courts' requirements for network service.  The IRMC and the Administrative Office of the Courts jointly shall present the written evaluation to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 8.  The IRMC and the MCNC jointly shall prepare a written evaluation of the costs, benefits, and feasibility of moving ownership and management of the MCNC CONCERT data network, that can be efficiently managed and supported by the STS, over to the STS North Carolina Integrated Network.  The IRMC and the MCNC jointly shall present the written evaluation to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 9.  The IRMC and the Department of Justice jointly shall investigate the costs, benefits, and feasibility of transferring the Department of Justice's Police Information Network to the ownership or management of the STS North Carolina Integrated Network.  This evaluation shall include investigation of the technical ability of maintaining network security for the Police Information Network, as required by federal government rules and regulations, on a shared physical communications network.  The IRMC and the Department of Justice jointly shall present a written report on the results of the investigation to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 10.  The IRMC, the Department of Administration Agency for Public Telecommunications, and the North Carolina Center for Public Television jointly shall develop a written plan and timetable to promote the sharing of facilities and telecommunications resources between the Agency for Public Telecommunications and the North Carolina Center for Public Telecommunications.  The IRMC, the Department of Administration Agency for Public Telecommunications, and the North Carolina Center for Public Television jointly shall present the written plan and timetable to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than March 31, 1994.
Sec. 11.  The IRMC shall prepare a written plan to establish stronger centralized governance over its wide area communications networks.  The plan shall include involvement of three organizational components: (i) a Director of Statewide Telecommunications, (ii) a Telecommunications Advisory Board, and (iii) an expansion of IRMC membership to include at least one telecommunications official in State government.  The plan for stronger centralized governance shall apply to the wide area communications networks only as the transport mechanism to move information.  The IRMC shall present the written plan to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 12.  The IRMC and the STS shall prepare a written needs assessment, requirements analysis, and feasibility study for migrating networks to a new broadband technology that will support activities including, but not limited to, greater use of local area network interconnections, geographic information systems, image processing, video conferencing, State and county library interconnections, and educational television.  The written plan shall include an assessment of demand for the increased bandwidth, a comprehensive cost analysis of migrating to a new broadband technology, an assessment of broadband technology's reliability in actual operation, and an assessment of the ability of technology vendors to deliver the network as it has been proposed.  The IRMC shall present the written needs assessment, requirements analysis, and feasibility plan to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 13.  The Microelectronics Center of North Carolina shall prepare a written needs assessment, requirements analysis, and feasibility study for replacing and expanding its analog microwave segments with optic fiber provided by a common carrier.  Among its topics, the reports shall address current capacity constraints, anticipated capacity constraints over the next five years, and realistic, anticipated demand growth over the next five years.  The MCNC shall deliver the written needs assessment, requirements analysis, and feasibility study to the IRMC and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 14.  The IRMC shall direct an evaluation of the three pilot projects currently underway on two-way video teleconferencing for distance learning and remote medical diagnosis.  The State shall not replace the funding of the pilot projects from the current grantors or sponsors before the completion of the evaluation, which shall (i) examine the findings and conclusions of the distance learning pilot projects, and (ii) validate the pilot projects' effectiveness in supporting training in schools, homes, and State agencies.
Sec. 15.  The IRMC shall direct the Agency for Public Telecommunications in preparing a written needs assessment, requirements analysis, feasibility study, and documented demand analysis of the Agency for Public Telecommunications' proposal to broadcast gavel-to-gavel coverage of General Assembly sessions.  Neither the Agency for Public Telecommunications nor any other State agency shall spend State funds for the purchase and installation of satellite receiving equipment nor for the retrofitting of satellite uplinks to accommodate "Ku Band" technology in order to broadcast gavel-to-gavel coverage of General Assembly sessions prior to the completion of the IRMC-directed report.  The IRMC and the Agency for Public Telecommunications shall deliver the written report, along with recommendations of the IRMC, to the Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 16.  The University of North Carolina shall prepare a written plan for upgrading the University of North Carolina Education Computing Services' LINCNET (i) to support greater bandwidth applications, such as file/catalog transfer, and (ii) to be compatible with the Triangle-area library network, consisting of Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The University shall deliver the written plan to the Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 17.  The State Telecommunications System shall develop a written plan to pursue a single statewide Centrex tariff with each of the current geographic carriers.  The STS shall deliver the written plan to the IRMC not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 18.  The State Telecommunications System shall develop a plan and a draft request for proposal for a single bulk discount agreement with the long-distance InterExchange Carrier voice telecommunications service.  The STS shall deliver the written plan and draft request for proposal to the IRMC for approval not later than December 31, 1993.
Sec. 19.  This act is effective upon ratification.