Serving Rural America Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6456 To establish a grant program that provides grants to expand broadband service. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 7, 2020 Mr. WITTMAN (for himself and Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To establish a grant program that provides grants to expand broadband service. 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 ‘‘Serving Rural America 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term ‘‘broad- 8 band service’’ has the same meaning as Broadband 9 internet access service in section 8.1(b) of the rules 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 2 •HR 6456 IH of the Federal Communications Commission (47 1 C.F.R. 8.1(b)). 2 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 3 means the Federal Communications Commission. 4 (3) ELIGIBLE BROADBAND PROJECT.—The 5 term ‘‘eligible broadband project’’ means a project 6 proposed by an eligible partnership to provide, to a 7 proposed service area, that is identified as unserved 8 pursuant to section 3, subsection (c)(4), a retail 9 fixed terrestrial broadband service of a capability de- 10 termined by the Commission and that meets at least 11 the minimum acceptable level for such service as es- 12 tablished by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant 13 to section 601(e) of the Rural Electrification Act of 14 1936. 15 (4) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi- 16 ble partnership’’ means a partnership— 17 (A) that includes— 18 (i) at least 1 political subdivision of a 19 State or a federally recognized Indian 20 Tribe (such as a city, county, wireless au- 21 thority, or planning district commission); 22 and 23 (ii) at least 1 internet service provider 24 who provides retail fixed terrestrial 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 3 •HR 6456 IH broadband service and is unaffiliated with 1 the political subdivision of a State; and 2 (B) where the political subdivision or fed- 3 erally recognized Indian Tribe uses an open and 4 transparent process and applies criteria that 5 does not discriminate against any entity to se- 6 lect the internet service provider as a partner or 7 impose any requirement on such entity other 8 than an agreement to meet the project require- 9 ments as described in section 3(j). 10 SEC. 3. BROADBAND GRANT PROGRAM. 11 (a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—Not later than 1 year 12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Com- 13 munications Commission shall establish a program that 14 provides grants, from amounts made available to carry out 15 this Act, to eligible partnerships for eligible broadband 16 projects. 17 (b) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 18 under subsection (a), an eligible partnership shall submit 19 an application at such time, in such manner, and con- 20 taining such information as the Commission may require, 21 including— 22 (1) a description of the eligible broadband 23 project (including the proposed broadband speed(s) 24 and proposed cost) that such eligible partnership in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 4 •HR 6456 IH tends to undertake if awarded a grant under this 1 Act (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘proposed 2 broadband project’’); and 3 (2) a description of the proposed service area to 4 be served by the proposed broadband project (in this 5 Act referred to as the ‘‘proposed service area’’). 6 (c) SELECTION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall award 8 grants to eligible partnerships for eligible broadband 9 projects on a competitively and technologically neu- 10 tral basis. 11 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under sub- 12 section (a), the Commission shall give priority to ap- 13 plications for proposed broadband projects designed 14 to provide the maximum level of broadband service 15 in terms of peak speed, consistent speed, latency, re- 16 liability, and upgradability to the greatest proportion 17 of households in a proposed service area. 18 (3) NONDISCRIMINATION.—In awarding grants 19 under subsection (a), the Commission— 20 (A) shall not discriminate against eligible 21 partnerships that have not previously received a 22 grant under this section; and 23 (B) shall not require grant recipients to be 24 designated as eligible telecommunications car- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 5 •HR 6456 IH riers pursuant to section 214 of the Commu- 1 nications Act of 1934. 2 (4) IDENTIFICATION OF UNSERVED COMMU- 3 NITIES.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of 5 awarding grants under subsection (a), the Com- 6 mission shall find a proposed service area to be 7 unserved and eligible to receive a grant if— 8 (i) fixed terrestrial broadband service 9 capacity, including any planned capacity or 10 any capacity under construction in accord- 11 ance with applicable deadlines imposed by 12 a State or political subdivision, is not 13 available within the proposed service area 14 at 25 megabits per second downstream 15 transmission capacity and 3 megabits per 16 second upstream transmission capacity or 17 greater; and 18 (ii) any Federal, State, or local gov- 19 ernment agency is not already providing fi- 20 nancial support in that area to a 21 broadband service provider (including the 22 internet service provider applicant or any 23 affiliate thereof) to deploy and offer 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 6 •HR 6456 IH broadband service capacity to locations in 1 such area. 2 (B) FINDING.—In making a finding under 3 subparagraph (A), the Commission shall— 4 (i) use available data on broadband 5 coverage (including the universal service 6 funding) authorizations overseen by the 7 Commission and confer with and obtain 8 data from the Rural Utilities Service with 9 respect to existing service capacity in the 10 proposed service area; 11 (ii) review any other mapping data 12 that is relevant to service capacity valida- 13 tion, as determined by the Commission; 14 (iii) provide reasonable opportunities, 15 as described in subsection (d)(2) for input 16 and presentation of data with respect to 17 existing or already-planned service avail- 18 ability by providers and other stakeholders 19 including— 20 (I) analysis of third-party data- 21 sets; 22 (II) data collected through crowd 23 sourcing of public input regarding 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 7 •HR 6456 IH mapping accuracy of proposed service 1 area; and 2 (III) site specific testing where 3 mapping data is contested as incor- 4 rect; and 5 (iv) post on the Commission’s website 6 and publish in the Federal Register the 7 proposed service area and provide the pub- 8 lic a period of at least 45 days after Fed- 9 eral Register publication to submit com- 10 ments, including with information that the 11 Commission shall keep confidential upon 12 request of the commenting party, to the 13 Commission on the proposed service area. 14 (d) INELIGIBLE USES OF GRANT FUNDS.—The Com- 15 mission shall not award a grant, or other assistance for 16 the deployment of broadband-capable infrastructure by a 17 service provider that would be used to provide retail fixed 18 terrestrial broadband service and that would overbuild or 19 otherwise duplicate broadband-capable infrastructure that 20 another service provider is using to provide retail fixed ter- 21 restrial broadband service in that same area as identified 22 consistent with subsection (c)(4), except that any other 23 proposed area covered by the same application as the ineli- 24 gible area and that is identified as unserved consistent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 8 •HR 6456 IH with subsection (c)(4) shall remain eligible for a grant or 1 other such assistance. 2 (e) PUBLIC NOTICE.—The Commission shall estab- 3 lish a process through which, before the Commission 4 awards a grant to such eligible partnership, members of 5 the public and or any service provider— 6 (1) are notified that the Commission is consid- 7 ering awarding a grant to an eligible partnership for 8 a proposed broadband project; 9 (2) are notified they may participate in a chal- 10 lenge process to address claims about the eligibility 11 of the area for a grant based upon existing or al- 12 ready-planned provision of retail fixed terrestrial 13 broadband services; and 14 (3) have an opportunity to inform the Commis- 15 sion that such proposed broadband project would du- 16 plicate existing broadband service in the proposed 17 project area. 18 (f) BROADBAND BUILD-OUT DATA AND REPORT- 19 ING.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab- 21 lish broadband build-out, reporting, and account- 22 ability requirements. 23 (2) BUILD-OUT DATA.—Any eligible partnership 24 that receives a grant under this Act shall provide to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 9 •HR 6456 IH the Commission complete, reliable, and precise infor- 1 mation in a format specified by the Commission that 2 indicates the location of new broadband service the 3 eligible partnership is providing through the eligible 4 broadband project. 5 (3) DATE.—The information described in sub- 6 section (f)(2) shall be provided to the Commission 7 not later than 90 days after the earlier of— 8 (A) the date of completion of any eligible 9 broadband project milestones established by the 10 Commission; or 11 (B) the date of completion of the eligible 12 broadband project. 13 (g) FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION.—The amount of any 14 grant provided to an eligible partnership under this Act 15 may not exceed 75 percent of the total proposed cost of 16 the eligible broadband project. 17 (h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may pro- 19 vide technical assistance and training to any eligible 20 partnership applying for a grant under this Act. 21 (2) FUNDING.—Not more than 5 percent of 22 amounts appropriated to carry out this Act for a fis- 23 cal year may be used for technical assistance and 24 training. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 10 •HR 6456 IH (3) COORDINATION.—When providing technical 1 assistance and training to an eligible partnership, 2 the Commission shall coordinate with any State offi- 3 cial responsible for broadband expansion in the State 4 containing the proposed service area. 5 (i) RELATION TO OTHER FEDERAL BROADBAND 6 PROGRAMS.— 7 (1) UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND.—The Commis- 8 sion shall coordinate to ensure that any grants made 9 under this Act complement and do not conflict with 10 the high-cost universal service support provided 11 under section 254 of the Communications Act of 12 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254). 13 (2) RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE.—The Commis- 14 sion shall coordinate with the Secretary of Agri- 15 culture to ensure that any grants made under this 16 Act complement and do not conflict with loans and 17 grants provided by the Department of Agriculture 18 under title VI of the Rural Electrification Act of 19 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb et seq.), including the Broad- 20 band Grants, Loans, and Loan Guarantees program 21 and the Community Connect Programs, and the Re- 22 Connect Program. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 11 •HR 6456 IH (j) PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—Any project funded 1 through the program shall meet the following require- 2 ments: 3 (1) The project shall offer broadband service 4 with a download speed of at least 100 megabits per 5 second, an upload speed of at least 20 megabits per 6 second, and a latency sufficient to real time applica- 7 tions. 8 (2) For any project that involves underground 9 fiber-optic cable along a roadway, the project shall 10 include consistent conduit access points, as defined 11 by the Commission. 12 (3) The project shall incorporate best manage- 13 ment practices, as defined by the Commission, for 14 buildout and maintenance. 15 (4) The network shall be capable of, and the 16 provider shall offer to any broadband customer in 17 the proposed service area, fixed terrestrial voice serv- 18 ice that includes the ability to dial 911 without a 19 mandate for the user to subscribe to broadband as 20 well. 21 (k) EXCEPTIONS.—The Commission shall grant an 22 exception to project broadband speed requirements in sec- 23 tion 3(j) as deemed necessary to allow participation by eli- 24 gible partnerships in Alaska. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 12 •HR 6456 IH (l) DATES AND RULEMAKING.— 1 (1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 120 days 2 after the enactment of the ‘‘Serving Rural America 3 Act’’, the Commission shall announce a Notice of 4 Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register, that 5 establishes— 6 (A) requirements of this section, in addi- 7 tion to requirements of subsections (a), (b), (c), 8 (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j); 9 (B) notice requirements for which entities 10 have applied to bid for funding; 11 (C) the results of the grant program, in- 12 cluding identifying funding recipients, the serv- 13 ice area the project will service, the type of 14 service the recipient will provide, and the 15 amount of funding the recipient will receive; 16 (D) broadband buildout milestones; and 17 (E) annual certification from award recipi- 18 ents that identifies speed of service provided in 19 each service area of a project to ensure compli- 20 ance with the broadband buildout milestones es- 21 tablished under subparagraph (D). 22 (2) FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCE- 23 MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the enactment 24 of this Act, the Commission shall announce a Fund- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456 13 •HR 6456 IH ing Opportunity Announcement in the Federal Reg- 1 ister. 2 SEC. 4. INFORMATION SHARING. 3 (a) INFORMATION SHARING WITH FEDERAL COMMU- 4 NICATIONS COMMISSION AND RURAL UTILITIES SERV- 5 ICE.—The Commission shall share with the Rural Utilities 6 Service information received pursuant to subsection [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]