Each week Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding hosts The Hot Seat, our opinion-page blog that brings in elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week were David Lassner, left, chairman of the Hawaii Broadband Task Force, and Larry Reifurth, right, director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which is leading the state's broadband efforts.

Here is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. To see the full conversation, go to The Hot Seat blog at http://www.hotseat.honadvblogs.com.

James K: Why does the state see the need to get involved in this issue? It seems with the economy in a mess there are better things to spend time and money on than this.

Larry Reifurth: Hawai'i has to make the transition from an economy based on land development to an innovation-based economy that is world competitive.

Roselani: How did this state fall so far behind in developing a broadband infrastructure? It seemed at one point that Hawai'i was a "wired" community.

Reifurth: It was only a few years ago that the U.S. was fourth in the world in broadband deployment and usage, and Hawai'i has always been a leader in those same measures. The local cable franchisee, for instance, reports that approximately 99 percent of Hawai'i residents have access to broadband if they wish to purchase it.

To illustrate your point, though, with regard to the U.S., a recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (2007) found the U.S. ranked 15th in the world in broadband penetration, 19th in the world in average advertised download speed, and 18th in the world in price/Mbps/month. Another recent report said that Hawai'i was 49th in average speed.

In other words, it's only recently that we've begun to develop a statewide, much less a national consensus, that something needs to be done.

We have to be careful, though, about putting too much stock in any one report.

KaneoheGirl: Does the taxpayer have to foot the bill for broadband upgrades entirely? What will be the private sector's role in this?

Craig: What if any will be the cost to the consumer once this plan goes through?

David Lassner: I'll try to answer two related questions at once.

We are not suggesting any investment of Hawai'i taxpayer funds at this time. We want to start by establishing a vision, goal and putting leadership in place using existing resources.

We expect that the private sector will continue to provision networks and services, as they do now. At this time there is not a firm plan for consumer pricing. But our vision and goal are to make Hawai'i competitive with the leading nations of the world. It is common in nations like Japan, South Korea, France, Sweden and more for consumers to be able to buy broadband access at 100 million bits per second for about $30 per month. The Broadband Task Force believes Hawai'i consumers deserve services at the speeds and pricing available in these places.

Judith: I'm not sure we need a new communications commission. What will the role of a new commission be, and is it not just more bureaucracy?

Lassner: We want to reduce bureaucracy by consolidating currently disparate but related regulatory functions in one office. We also recommended that the new commissioner be charged to work with other state agencies and counties to streamline the currently onerous, costly and time-consuming permitting and approval processes that hamper both public and private infrastructure development.

Ethan Lum: The bill calls for one commissioner. Is that too much power?

Lassner: We patterned this approach after the structure used for the insurance commissioner, who provides comprehensive and timely regulation of insurance matters. We believe this can provide greater flexibility, advocacy and an easing of regulation where that makes sense. In addition, the Division of Consumer Advocacy in DCCA will (continue to) represent, protect and advance the interests of consumers of these services.

Tina: Because of Hawai'i's remote location, what are some of the issues facing broadband upgrades?

Lassner: Hawai'i is one of only two states that rely on expensive and scarce submarine fiber-optic cable to connect to the rest of the country and the world. This increases our costs substantially, especially for very high-speed network requirements in research, science and technology.

Shanequa: The FCC indicated that broadband is an information service. Therefore, the state cannot regulate broadband, right? Don't the bills seek to regulate broadband?

Reifurth: No, they don't. Instead, the measures designate an agency to champion the development of broadband where currently there is none. In addition, the measures seek to streamline the processes for deploying broadband, expediting the installation, deployment and use of broadband by greater numbers of the public.

Keoni Villanueva: I heard that the bill says there should be infrastructure sharing. I read that the sharing of telecommunications and broadband infrastructure is complex and costly. If it's costly, won't this create a disincentive to invest in infrastructure?

Lassner: Yes, infrastructure sharing is a common element of the places that have leapfrogged the U.S. While it may be difficult with current infrastructure there are many new approaches and architectures using modern fiber-optic technology. Shared infrastructure allows new providers to enter the market and innovate without requiring major new investments in infrastructure. There is no "taking" of private infrastructure anticipated, but the commissioner will be charged to find ways to increase infrastructure sharing in order to reduce costs to providers, reduce prices to consumers and encourage innovation in services and applications for everyone.

Reach David Lassner at (Unknown address).