STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 917 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. HELMING, BORRELLO, OBERACKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Internet and Technology AN ACT to amend the state technology law and the tax law, in relation to a refundable tax credit provided to broadband deployment to residences and small businesses located in rural, unserved areas The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "credit for rural broadband act". 3 § 2. Section 104 of the state technology law is amended by adding a 4 new subdivision 3 to read as follows: 5 3. The office of information technology services, in conjunction with 6 input from the advisory council, is hereby authorized and directed to 7 promulgate rules and regulations necessary for verifying an "unserved" 8 area under the credit for rural broadband act, using broadband mapping 9 data at the time a project is proposed. 10 § 3. Section 210-B of the tax law is amended by adding a new subdivi- 11 sion 61 to read as follows: 12 61. Credit for rural broadband deployment. (a) Allowance of credit. 13 A qualified taxpayer shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed 14 by this article equal to any qualified customer contribution in aid of 15 construction resulting from new network construction to deliver broad- 16 band service to the individual's residence or place of business located 17 in an unserved area. The credit allowed by this subdivision shall be 18 claimed annually over a five-year period equal to one-fifth of the cred- 19 it amount. If the credit allowed under this subdivision is greater than 20 the tax due in any taxable year, the amount by which such credit exceeds 21 such tax due is treated as an overpayment of tax to be refunded in EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00707-01-5S. 917 2 1 accordance with the provisions of section one thousand eighty-six of 2 this chapter. 3 (b) For purposes of this subdivision, the following definitions shall 4 apply: 5 (1) "Qualified construction expenses" equal the total cost of 6 construction of new networks in the proposed unserved service area, as 7 certified by the broadband service provider, but not to exceed a reason- 8 able cost based upon the average cost per mile of broadband network 9 construction as determined by the commissioner in consultation with the 10 public service commission and broadband service providers. 11 (2) "Qualified customer contribution in aid of construction" is deter- 12 mined in accordance with the following formula: (QCE/TC) - (ACM/35) = 13 QC, where QCE equals the qualified construction expenses; ACM equals the 14 average cost of construction per mile in the proposed unserved service 15 area, as certified by the broadband service provider, but not to exceed 16 a reasonable cost based upon the average cost per mile of broadband 17 network construction as determined by the commissioner in consultation 18 with the public service commission and broadband service providers; TC 19 equals the number of residents and small business customers in the 20 proposed unserved service area making a qualified customer contribution 21 in aid to construction and contracting for services over the network; 22 and QC equals the qualified customer contribution in aid of 23 construction. 24 (3) "Required provider contribution in aid to construction" shall 25 equal the qualified construction expenses, less the sum of all the qual- 26 ified customer contributions in aid to construction in the proposed 27 unserved service area. 28 (4) "Broadband service" means Internet access service with trans- 29 mission speeds that are equal to or greater than combined advertised 30 download speeds of at least 4 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload 31 speeds of at least 1 Mbps over the provider's network. 32 (5) "Unserved area" means an area composed of one or more contiguous 33 census blocks where at least ninety percent of households lack access to 34 facilities-based terrestrial broadband service. A household has access 35 to a broadband service if the household can readily subscribe to that 36 service upon request. 37 (6) "Qualified taxpayer" means a taxpayer which is a small business 38 corporation as defined in paragraph three of subsection (c) of section 39 twelve hundred forty-four of the internal revenue code (without regard 40 to the second sentence of subparagraph (A) thereof) as of the last day 41 of the taxable year. 42 § 4. Section 606 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subsection 43 (bbb) to read as follows: 44 (bbb) Credit for rural broadband deployment. (A) Allowance of credit. 45 A qualified taxpayer shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed 46 by this article equal to any qualified customer contribution in aid of 47 construction resulting from new network construction to deliver broad- 48 band service to the individual's residence or place of business located 49 in an unserved area. The credit allowed by this subsection shall be 50 claimed annually over a five-year period equal to one-fifth of the cred- 51 it amount. If the credit allowed under this subsection is greater than 52 the tax due in any taxable year, the amount by which such credit exceeds 53 such tax due is treated as an overpayment of tax to be refunded in 54 accordance with the provisions of section one thousand eighty-six of 55 this chapter.S. 917 3 1 (B) For purposes of this subsection, the following definitions shall 2 apply: 3 (1) "Qualified construction expenses" equal the total cost of 4 construction of new networks in the proposed unserved service area, as 5 certified by the broadband service provider, but not to exceed a reason- 6 able cost based upon the average cost per mile of broadband network 7 construction as determined by the commissioner in consultation with the 8 public service commission and broadband service providers. 9 (2) "Qualified customer contribution in aid of construction" is deter- 10 mined in accordance with the following formula: (QCE/TC) - (ACM/35) = 11 QC, where QCE equals the qualified construction expenses; ACM equals the 12 average cost of construction per mile in the proposed unserved service 13 area, as certified by the broadband service provider, but not to exceed 14 a reasonable cost based upon the average cost per mile of broadband 15 network construction as determined by the commissioner in consultation 16 with the public service commission and broadband service providers; TC 17 equals the number of residents and small business customers in the 18 proposed unserved service area making a qualified customer contribution 19 in aid to construction and contracting for services over the network; 20 and QC equals the qualified customer contribution in aid of 21 construction. 22 (3) "Required provider contribution in aid to construction" shall 23 equal the qualified construction expenses, less the sum of all the qual- 24 ified customer contributions in aid to construction in the proposed 25 unserved service area. 26 (4) "Broadband service" means Internet access service with trans- 27 mission speeds that are equal to or greater than combined advertised 28 download speeds of at least 4 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload 29 speeds of at least 1 Mbps over the provider's network. 30 (5) "Unserved area" means an area composed of one or more contiguous 31 census blocks where at least ninety percent of households lack access to 32 facilities-based terrestrial broadband service. A household has access 33 to a broadband service if the household can readily subscribe to that 34 service upon request. 35 (6) "Qualified taxpayer" means any individual with New York adjusted 36 gross income of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or less. 37 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to tax 38 years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.