American Broadband Buildout Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2018 To provide Federal matching funding for State-level broadband programs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 27, 2019 Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To provide Federal matching funding for State-level broadband programs. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Broadband 4 Buildout Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 8 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2018 IS (A) means mass-market retail service by 1 wire or radio that provides the capability to 2 transmit data to and receive data from all or 3 substantially all internet endpoints, including 4 any capabilities that are incidental to and en- 5 able the operation of the communications serv- 6 ice, but excluding dial-up internet access serv- 7 ice; and 8 (B) includes any service that the Commis- 9 sion finds to be providing a functional equiva- 10 lent of the service described in subparagraph 11 (A) or that is used to evade the protections set 12 forth in part 8 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 13 ulations, or any successor thereto. 14 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 16 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 17 ty’’ means— 18 (A) a State; or 19 (B) an entity authorized by a State to 20 spend funds for a purpose described in section 21 3 or 4. 22 (4) LAST-MILE INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 23 ‘‘last-mile infrastructure’’ means infrastructure the 24 predominant purpose of which is to provide 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2018 IS broadband internet access service to end users or 1 end user devices, including households, businesses, 2 community anchor institutions, public safety entities, 3 and critical community facilities. 4 (5) OVERBUILDING.—The term ‘‘overbuilding’’ 5 means deploying broadband infrastructure in an 6 area that, prior to the deployment, already had— 7 (A) facilities capable of providing 8 broadband internet access service at a speed of 9 not less than 25 megabits per second for 10 downloads and 3 megabits per second for 11 uploads; or 12 (B) broadband infrastructure that was 13 built using funds from a Federal or State pro- 14 gram that were provided for the express pur- 15 pose of deploying broadband infrastructure. 16 (6) QUALIFYING PROJECT.—The term ‘‘quali- 17 fying project’’ means a project— 18 (A) to construct last-mile infrastructure 19 that will provide broadband internet access 20 service at a speed of not less than 25 megabits 21 per second for downloads and 10 megabits per 22 second for uploads in an unserved area, without 23 engaging in overbuilding; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2018 IS (B) that is funded by a public-private part- 1 nership in which— 2 (i) the State in which the project is lo- 3 cated provides a portion of the funds; and 4 (ii) the private company that will pro- 5 vide broadband internet access service to 6 customers connected to the last-mile infra- 7 structure provides not less than 25 percent 8 of the funds. 9 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 10 ing given the term in section 3 of the Communica- 11 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 12 (8) UNSERVED AREA.—The term ‘‘unserved 13 area’’ means a census block in which broadband 14 internet access service at a speed of not less than 25 15 megabits per second for downloads and 3 megabits 16 per second for uploads is not available. 17 SEC. 3. LAST-MILE BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall award 19 grants to eligible entities for qualifying projects. 20 (b) PRIORITIZATION.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), if 22 amounts made available to carry out this section are 23 insufficient to finance all qualifying projects for 24 which the Commission receives an application for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2018 IS funding under this section, the Commission shall 1 give priority to qualifying projects in States in 2 which, according to figure 32 in the report of the 3 Commission entitled ‘‘Internet Access Services: Sta- 4 tus as of June 30, 2017’’, published in November 5 2018— 6 (A) fewer than 68 percent of households 7 subscribed to fixed terrestrial broadband inter- 8 net access service with a speed of not less 9 than— 10 (i) 10 megabits per second for 11 downloads; and 12 (ii) 1 megabit per second for uploads; 13 and 14 (B) fewer than 40.5 percent of households 15 subscribed to fixed terrestrial broadband inter- 16 net access service with a speed of not less 17 than— 18 (i) 25 megabits per second for 19 downloads; and 20 (ii) 3 megabits per second for uploads. 21 (2) HIGH-COST, GEOGRAPHICALLY CHAL- 22 LENGED AREAS.—The Commission shall ensure that 23 not less than 15 percent of the amounts awarded 24 under paragraph (1) are used in areas that are high- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2018 IS cost and geographically challenged, as determined by 1 the Commission. 2 SEC. 4. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS; DIGITAL LIT- 3 ERACY PROGRAMS. 4 The Commission shall award grants to eligible enti- 5 ties— 6 (1) to carry out public awareness campaigns de- 7 signed to highlight the value and benefits of 8 broadband internet access service, in order to in- 9 crease the adoption of broadband internet access 10 service; and 11 (2) to support digital literacy programs in areas 12 in which a qualifying project that receives funding 13 under section 3 is located. 14 SEC. 5. FEDERAL SHARE. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the cost of 16 a project, campaign, or program that receives funding 17 under this Act shall be not more than 50 percent. 18 (b) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—A State may use 19 amounts received from the Secretary of Housing and 20 Urban Development under the community development 21 block grant program under title I of the Housing and 22 Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et 23 seq.), amounts received from the Appalachian Regional 24 Commission established under section 14301(a) of title 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2018 IS 40, United States Code, or amounts received from the 1 Northern Border Regional Commission established under 2 section 15301(a)(3) of title 40, United States Code, for 3 the non-Federal share of the cost of a project, campaign, 4 or program that receives funding under this Act. 5 SEC. 6. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 6 (a) LAST-MILE BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE 7 GRANTS.—For grants awarded under section 3, the Com- 8 mission shall establish transparency and accountability 9 rules under which— 10 (1) after receiving an application for a grant to 11 carry out a qualifying project in an area, the Com- 12 mission shall determine whether the area is served 13 or unserved using accurate and granular information 14 regarding the availability of broadband internet ac- 15 cess service at the sub-census block level; 16 (2) the Commission shall— 17 (A) permit a person or entity to challenge 18 an initial determination of the Commission 19 under paragraph (1); and 20 (B) provide a period of not less than 45 21 days, after the Commission makes an initial de- 22 termination under paragraph (1) with respect 23 to an area, during which a provider of 24 broadband internet access service may volun- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2018 IS tarily submit information concerning the 1 broadband internet access service that the pro- 2 vider offers in the area; 3 (3) the Commission shall provide the public 4 with notice of— 5 (A) an initial determination with respect to 6 an area under paragraph (1); 7 (B) the final determination of whether an 8 area is served or unserved after the process for 9 challenging the initial determination, as de- 10 scribed in paragraph (2), has concluded; 11 (C) the entities that have applied for a 12 grant; and 13 (D) the results of any decision regarding a 14 grant application, including by identifying— 15 (i) each eligible entity that was award- 16 ed a grant; 17 (ii) the areas that each grantee will 18 serve using the grant funds; 19 (iii) the nature of the service that 20 each grantee will provide in each area de- 21 scribed in clause (ii); and 22 (iv) the amount that the Commission 23 has authorized each grantee to use to carry 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2018 IS out a qualifying project in each unserved 1 area; and 2 (4) the Commission shall establish— 3 (A) broadband buildout milestones and 4 periodic certifications that a grantee must sub- 5 mit to demonstrate compliance with the 6 broadband buildout milestones; 7 (B) a maximum buildout timeframe of 6 8 years from the date on which the Commission 9 first awards a grant to an eligible entity; 10 (C) periodic reporting requirements for 11 grantees that identify— 12 (i) the nature of the service provided 13 in each unserved area; and 14 (ii) the latitude and longitude coordi- 15 nates of each location to which the grantee 16 has provided broadband service in each 17 census block; 18 (D) penalties for noncompliance with— 19 (i) the broadband buildout milestones 20 under subparagraph (A); 21 (ii) the certification requirements 22 under subparagraph (A); and 23 (iii) the reporting requirements under 24 subparagraph (C); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2018 IS (E) procedures through which the Commis- 1 sion may recover grant funds, in whole or in 2 part, from a grantee if the grantee defaults or 3 does not comply with the requirements under 4 this Act; and 5 (F) any additional methods or reporting 6 necessary to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse 7 within the grant program. 8 (b) PUBLIC AWARENESS AND DIGITAL LITERACY 9 GRANTS.—For grants awarded under section 4, the Com- 10 mission shall establish transparency and accountability 11 rules that— 12 (1) require the Commission to provide the pub- 13 lic with notice of— 14 (A) the entities that have applied for a 15 grant; and 16 (B) the results of any decision regarding a 17 grant application, including by— 18 (i) identifying each eligible entity that 19 was awarded a grant; 20 (ii) identifying the areas that each 21 grantee will serve using the grant funds; 22 (iii) providing a summary of the 23 projects that each grantee will carry out in 24 each area described in clause (ii); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2018 IS (iv) the amount that the Commission 1 has authorized a grantee to use to carry 2 out a public awareness campaign or sup- 3 port digital literacy programs in each area 4 described in clause (ii); and 5 (2) establish— 6 (A) project milestones and periodic certifi- 7 cations that a grantee must submit to dem- 8 onstrate compliance with the project milestones; 9 (B) a maximum project completion time- 10 frame of 6 years from the date on which the 11 Commission first awards a grant to an eligible 12 entity; 13 (C) periodic reporting requirements for 14 grantees to demonstrate progress in meeting 15 the project milestones under subparagraph (A); 16 (D) penalties for noncompliance with— 17 (i) the project milestones under sub- 18 paragraph (A); 19 (ii) the certification requirements 20 under subparagraph (A); and 21 (iii) the reporting requirements under 22 subparagraph (C); 23 (E) procedures through which the Commis- 24 sion may recover grant funds, in whole or in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2018 IS part, from a grantee if the grantee defaults or 1 does not comply with the requirements under 2 this Act; and 3 (F) any additional methods or reporting 4 necessary to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse 5 within the grant program. 6 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Com- 8 mission to carry out this Act for fiscal year 2019, 9 $5,000,000,000, to remain available until expended. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2018.IS S2018 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS