Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7 and Title 65.

Present law authorizes a municipality operating an electric plant to do the following on behalf of its municipality acting through the authorization of the board or supervisory body having responsibility for the municipal electric plant: acquire, construct, own, improve, operate, lease, maintain, sell, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of any system, plant or equipment for the provision of telephone, telegraph, telecommunications services, or any other like system, plant, or equipment within or without the corporate or county limits of such municipality, and, with the consent of such other municipality, within the corporate or county limits of any other municipality. This bill removes the requirement of consent from the other municipality in order for the municipality operating an electric plant to provide such services in the other municipality. Present law authorizes the commissioner of economic and community development to establish and administer the broadband accessibility grant program to provide for the awarding of grants to political subdivisions or entities of political subdivisions, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships or other business entities that provide broadband services; cooperatives organized under the Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperative Act or the Telephone Cooperative Act; and any other entity authorized by state law to provide broadband services. This bill adds municipal electric plants to the list of entities that may be awarded a grant. Under present law, grants must be awarded to promote the deployment and adoption of broadband services with minimum download speeds of ten megabits per second (10 Mbps) and minimum upload speeds of one megabit per second (1 Mbps) to locations without broadband services at these minimum speeds. This bill changes the applicable speeds from 10 to 20 Mbps and from 1 to 3 Mbps.