Policy Advisory Updates – July 2021 – CGIA Community Council

The California GIS Council’s Policy Advisory Workgroup (PAW) has a few July updates for the GIS community:

On July 8th, PAW held its first Quarterly Lunchtime Legislative Briefing. We went over the 2021 Q2 newsletter. The recording will be available for a limited time (100 days) at this link:

Access Passcode: GISUnderTheDome@Q2

Stay tuned for announcements regarding the remaining briefings for 2021, which will take place in October & January.

The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) has published model statutory language for embedding geospatial technology into state-level election administration law. The language may be adopted by states looking to leverage GIS technology in future elections. It also addresses administrative boundaries and address points, pertinent issues in their own right. This publication is a part of NSGIC’s Geo-Enabled Elections project.

On July 20, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a budget bill (SB 156) appropriating $6 billion for expanding California’s broadband infrastructure. $4.3 billion is set to be spent in 2021-22 alone. The high-level plan is as follows:

$3.25 billion to build a state-owned 8,000-mile high-speed network (middle-mile)
$2 billion in grants for service providers to build fiber networks in hard-to-reach (last-mile) areas
$750 million in loan-loss funds to local governments to build out their own networks

More details will be presented in the next installment of GIS Under the Dome (Oct 1).

Please reach out to the PAW chair, Jacob Mark (jacob.mark@woolpert.com), for any questions, comments, or suggestions.