S 679: Establishes the affordable housing broadband assistance grant program within the division of broadband access to support no-cost and/or discounted subscriptions for households receiving federal, state, or local housing assistance or residing in housing units designated for low-income and/or vulnerable populations.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 679 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MARTINEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in relation to the affordable housing broadband assistance grant program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 16-gg of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 2 1968 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act, 3 as added by section 2 of part MMM of chapter 58 of the laws of 2022, is 4 amended by adding a new subdivision 10-a to read as follows: 5 10-a. Affordable housing broadband assistance grant program. (a) The 6 division shall establish the affordable housing broadband assistance 7 grant program. The program shall support no-cost and/or discounted 8 broadband subscriptions for households receiving federal, state, or 9 local housing assistance or residing in housing units designated for 10 low-income and/or vulnerable populations. 11 (b) For the purposes of this program, eligible grant recipients shall 12 include local governments, municipal housing authorities as defined in 13 section 3 of the public housing law, or for-profit or non-profit low-in- 14 come housing property owners or operators. 15 (c) The division shall establish criteria, consistent with this 16 section, for grant recipients to select and contract with an entity to 17 provide broadband service pursuant to the grant. 18 (d) The grants shall support the costs associated with providing 19 broadband services to residential end-users consistent with paragraph 20 (a) of this subdivision at no cost or a discounted cost, and would cover 21 expenditures of up to thirty dollars per month per housing unit for a 22 period of up to four years. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02767-01-5 
 S. 679 2 1 (e) The grant recipient shall, to the greatest extent possible, 2 provide for broadband services that meet the following criteria: 3 (i) Provide a baseline level of service offering minimum download 4 speeds of at least 100 megabits per second in each unit; 5 (ii) Utilize a fixed, wireline broadband service; 6 (iii) Allow residential end-users, at their own cost, to obtain an 7 increased level of service beyond the baseline level to be supported by 8 the grant; and 9 (iv) Utilize internet service providers that: 10 (A) Operate high-speed networks capable of delivering download speeds 11 of at least 100 megabits per second, and with consideration to providers 12 who can offer faster broadband speeds; 13 (B) Have experience in implementing and supporting low-income broad- 14 band adoption programs; and 15 (C) Have a demonstrated ability to meet the grant's obligations 16 including customer service capability and initiating service for resi- 17 dential end-users as determined by the division. 18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.