Commissioner of human services duties.

(a) In addition to any duties specified elsewhere in sections 237.51 to 237.56 , the commissioner of human services shall:

(1) define economic hardship, special needs, and household criteria so as to determine the priority of eligible applicants for initial distribution of devices new text begin and products new text end and to determine circumstances necessitating provision of more than one telecommunications device per household;

(2) establish a method to verify eligibility requirements;

(3) establish specifications for telecommunications devices new text begin and interconnectivity products new text end to be provided under section 237.53, subdivision 3 ;

(4) inform the public and specifically persons who have communication disabilities of the program; deleted text begin and deleted text end

(5) provide devices new text begin and products new text end based on the assessed need of eligible applicants deleted text begin . deleted text end new text begin ; and new text end

new text begin (6) assist a person with completing an application for discounted telecommunications or Internet services. new text end

(b) The commissioner may establish an advisory board to advise the department in carrying out the duties specified in this section and to advise the commissioner of commerce in carrying out duties under section 237.54 . If so established, the advisory board must include, at a minimum, the following persons:

(1) at least one member who is deaf;

(2) at least one member who has a speech disability;

(3) at least one member who has a physical disability that makes it difficult or impossible for the person to access telecommunications services; and

(4) at least one member who is hard-of-hearing.

new text begin (c) new text end The membership terms, compensation, and removal of members and the filling of membership vacancies are governed by section 15.059 . Advisory board meetings shall be held at the discretion of the commissioner.