CASF Consortia Grant Program History

The following summarizes the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Account (Consortia Grant program) program history from program establishment to recent program changes:

• September 25, 2010: Governor Schwarzenegger signed  Senate Bill (SB) 1040 establishing the Consortia Grant Account and authorizing $10 million funding to "fund the cost of broadband deployment activities other than the capital cost of facilities, as specified by the Commission."

   

• December 16, 2010: The Commission opened a rulemaking proceeding (R).10-12-008 to implement the provisions of SB 1040, and to address modifications to the program based on CASF's three-year implementation experience.  

   

• June 23, 2011: The Commission adopted Decision (D.) 11-06-038  implementing the provision of SB 1040 relating to the Consortia Grant program and establishing the rules and guidelines for the Consortia Grant account.    

       

• July 21, 2011: The Commission issued D.11-07-034  correcting non-substantive errors in certain attachments to D.11-06-038 and wording errors regarding the Los Angeles region funding.

   

• August 2011: The Commission opened the first Consortia Grant Cycle accepting applications that promote broadband deployment and advance broadband adoption in unserved and underserved areas .

• September 2, 2015: Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1262  which among other things, reallocated $5 million additional funding from the CASF Broadband Infrastructure Revolving Loan Account to the CASF Consortia Grant Account.  

   

• October 21, 2015: The Commission opened the 2016 Consortia Grant Cycle.  Please see the attached letter for more information.

   

• October 15, 2017: Governor Newsom signed AB 1665 which authorized an additional $10 million Consortia Grant Account funding.

   

• October 25, 2018: The Commission adopted D.18-10-032 to implement programmatic changes to the Consortia Grant Account as required by AB 1665 and establish the Consortia Grant Account requirements and guidelines.

   

• July 20, 2021: Governor Newsom signed SB 156 which made various changes to the CASF program and accounts set forth in Pub. Util. Code section 281.

   

• May 19, 2022: The Commission adopted D.22-05-029 modifying the Consortia Grant Account, per SB 156 and making programmatic changes including expanding allowable Consortia activities, increasing the annual maximum funding cap, clarifying Consortia regional boundary requirements, and allocating $10.71 for Fiscal Year 2022-2023.