(1) The Economic and Community Development Department, in collaboration with affected telecommunications carriers, the Connecting Oregon Communities Advisory Board, representatives of local communities and other members of the public interested in improved telecommunications services, shall conduct an assessment of telecommunications infrastructure and community telecommunications needs in local communities and across the various regions of this state. The assessment shall include:
(a) The type of telecommunications services and technology, including infrastructure, already deployed within communities and regions;
(b) The type of telecommunications technology and services desired by communities within regions;
(c) The competitiveness of the local telecommunications market, including a list of all telecommunications carriers and Internet service providers;
(d) The economic significance of desired telecommunications investments;
(e) Community and regional priority lists for telecommunications infrastructure and service investments;
(f) The ability of qualified public and nonprofit users within the community or region to aggregate demand for telecommunications services and the benefits of such aggregation;
(g) The estimated costs and implementation schedule of desired or proposed telecommunications investments;
(h) An analysis of state, federal, nonprofit and private sources of funding for the proposed improvements;
(i) The ability of the investment to be self-supporting; and
(j) The ability of a community or region to make the investments necessary to connect to the Oregon Enterprise Network, and the local and statewide benefits of such investments.
(2)(a) To the maximum extent practicable, the assessment shall recognize and include existing state, regional and local plans and information. The department may use its own staff or may contract with third parties to conduct the assessment.
(b) A copy of the assessment shall be submitted to the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission and to the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology. The commission shall consider the information contained in the report when adopting or amending the rules required under ORS 759.430 (1).
(3) The commission shall not approve plans under ORS 759.430 (1) until the commission has received the assessment required under this section. The department shall report to the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology on implementation of ORS 759.430 to 759.445 prior to the approval of project plans under ORS 759.430 (1). [1999 c.1093 §32]
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