Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of ConnectME Authority, Chapter 101, a Major Substantive Rule of the Governor's Office
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 0765
Committee Amendment CA_A_H79 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "/I,, to H.P. 586, L.D. 765, "Resolve, Regarding 
Legislative Review of Portions of ConnectME Authority, Chapter 101, a Major 
Substantive Rule of the Governor's Office" 
Amend the resolve in section 1 in the last line (page 1, line 17 in L.D.) by striking out 
the following: 
"authorized." and inserting the following: 
'authorized only if the 
following changes are made:' 
Amend the resolve in section 1 by inserting at the end the following: 
'1. Definition of broadband service provider. That portion of the rule designated 
Section 2, subsection D must be amended to provide that the definition of broadband 
service provider does not include a provider of commercial mobile service as defined 
under 47 United States Code, Section 332(d); 
2. Mapping requirement. That portion of the rule designated Section 3, subsection 
B must be amended to provide that a mobile communications service provider that is 
contributing to the ConnectME Fund is required to file with the ConnectME Authority 
the coverage maps and service description information designated in Section 3, 
subsection B, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the rule, but a mobile communications service 
provider that is not contributing to the ConnectME Fund is not required to file that 
information; and 
3. Application process. That portion of the rule designated Section 6, subsection D 
must be replaced to provide that, within 90 days of the effective date of the rule, the 
ConnectME Authority is required to establish an application process that, at a minimum, 
includes the following provisions: 
A. An application that, at a minimum, includes description of the area proposed to be 
served by the project and sufficient information to establish that it is an unserved or 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
C 
lit 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" R" to H.P. 586. L.D. 765 
underserved area; a description of the proposed project, including public-private 
partnerships that have been established, evidence that the private partner in the 
project is eligible to receive funding from the authority, the type of service to be 
provided and, in the case of broadband service, the upstream and downstream speeds 
of the service to be provided, an estimate of the time required to complete the 
proposed project, the percentage distribution of households and businesses within the 
area to be served by the project and the estimated price per customer of the service to 
be provided by the proposed project; the total amount of funding requested from the 
authority; the applicant's financial commitment to the project in addition to the 
funding requested from the authority; the estimated number of customers who will 
directly benefit from the project who are currently unserved or underserved; and 
evidence of community support for the proposed project, which may include letters or 
signatures of residents or businesses located within the area of the proposed project; 
and 
B. An application evaluation process that provides that the authority concurrently 
evaluate all applications submitted during a particular application period that has 
been set by the authority; that the scoring of applications is based on a 100-point 
scale with the following 4 scoring categories: cost-benefit, community support, 
project scope and project value; that the cost-benefit category is worth at least 33 
points; that a project with a total score of less than 50 points may not be funded; that 
a project that serves an underserved area may only be funded if funds are available 
after all eligible applications for projects to serve unserved areas have been funded; 
that the cost-benefit scoring is based on relevant factors, including, but not limited to, 
the amount of funding requested from the authority per customer eligible to be served 
by the project, with lower funding per customer receiving a higher cost-benefit score; 
that the community support score is based on relevant factors, including, but not 
limited to, evidence of community support for the project and the percentage of a 
municipality that will be served by the proposed project; that the score for the project 
scope is based on relevant factors, including, but not limited to, the number of 
customers to be served by the project, the type and, when relevant, the speed of 
service to be offered by the project and the applicant's financial commitment to the 
project; and that the score for project value is based on relevant factors, including, but 
not limited to, the estimated price per customer to receive service from the proposed 
project and any other details of the project that may benefit customers in the area 
proposed to be served by the proposed project. ' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment authorizes final adoption of ConnectME Authority, Chapter 101, a 
provisionally adopted major substantive rule of the Governor's Office, as long as certain 
changes to the rule are made to clarify the definition of broadband service provider, to 
limit the requirement imposed on mobile communications service providers to file 
mapping and service description information to those mobile communications service 
providers contributing to the ConnectME Fund and to amend the section of the rule 
regarding applications for funding from the ConnectME Authority to specify 
requirements for the content of the application and the application evaluation process to 
be used by the authority. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 'R "to H.P. 586, L.D. 765 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 04/04/07 
~ac 
LD765 
LR 2502(02) 
Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of ConnectME Authority, Chapter 101, a Major 
Substantive Rule of the Governor's Office 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment II/} " 
Committee: Utilities and Energy 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Any additional costs associated with this legislation can be absorbed by the Governor's Office within the Executive 
Department utilizing existing budgeted resources. 
LR2502(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1