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Committee approves adding nonvoting advisers and third‑party scoring for broadband grants
Summary
House Bill 299 would allow legislative leaders to appoint nonvoting advisory members to the Broadband Advisory Board and require a neutral third party to score grant applications; the committee advanced the bill to the floor after questions about funding and oversight.
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to advance House Bill 299, a bill that adds nonvoting advisory appointments to the Broadband Advisory Board and requires an outside third party to score broadband grant applications.
Representative John Vandervana said the bill would give the board more continuity and neutral expertise: leaders could add advisory members (nonvoting) from the House and Senate, and an independent scorer would reduce perceived bias during grant evaluation. He told the committee that a national vendor has already been used in past reviews and that the third‑party service would be hired to provide neutral scoring.
Committee members pressed on how the governor's appointees, legislative appointees and industry advisers interact. Vandervana said the advisory members are intended to provide continuity as appointments turn over and that federal planning grant funds would be used for implementation costs related to scoring. "It's part of the grant that comes to the state," he said, noting past ARPA and federal broadband allocations that increased program scale.
Senator Rockey moved to send the bill to print and to the Senate floor; the motion carried after discussion. Committee members said the measure aims to improve transparency and technical expertise in a program that now administers substantial federal funds.
Next steps: HB299 advances to the full Senate; the sponsor indicated he will flesh out implementation details about procurement and funding as the process continues.
