HOTSPOTS Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 698 To establish a pilot program through which the Institute of Museum and Library Services shall allocate funds to States for the provision of inter- net-connected devices to libraries. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 11, 2021 Mr. MANCHIN (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. TESTER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. KING, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. WARNER, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Mr. CORNYN) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish a pilot program through which the Institute of Museum and Library Services shall allocate funds to States for the provision of internet-connected devices to libraries. 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 ‘‘Hotspots and Online 4 Technology and Services Procurement for Our Tribes and 5 States Act’’ or the ‘‘HOTSPOTS Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:09 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698 2 •S 698 IS SEC. 2. INTERNET HOTSPOT PILOT PROGRAM. 1 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘li- 2 brary’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State library administrative agen- 3 cy’’ have the meanings given those terms in section 213 4 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 5 9122). 6 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 days after 8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 9 the Institute of Museum and Library Services (re- 10 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Director’’) shall es- 11 tablish a 2-year pilot program, through which the 12 Director shall— 13 (A) reserve 2.5 percent of the amounts ap- 14 propriated to carry out this section to make 15 grants to Indian Tribes and to organizations 16 that primarily serve and represent Native Ha- 17 waiians (as the term is defined in section 6207 18 of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (20 19 U.S.C. 7517)) to enable such Tribes and orga- 20 nizations to carry out the activities described in 21 subsection (e); and 22 (B) allocate grant funds to States in ac- 23 cordance with paragraph (2) to enable States, 24 through the State library administrative agency, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:49 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698 3 •S 698 IS as appropriate, to carry out the activities de- 1 scribed in subsection (e). 2 (2) ALLOTMENTS TO STATES.— 3 (A) MINIMUM ALLOTMENTS.— 4 (i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 5 this paragraph, the minimum allotment for 6 each State shall be $2,000,000, except that 7 the minimum allotment shall be $200,000 8 in the case of the United States Virgin Is- 9 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com- 10 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 11 lands, the Republic of the Marshall Is- 12 lands, the Federated States of Micronesia, 13 and the Republic of Palau. 14 (ii) RATABLE REDUCTION.—Notwith- 15 standing clause (i), if the sum appro- 16 priated to carry out this section is insuffi- 17 cient to fully satisfy the requirement of 18 clause (i), each of the minimum allotments 19 under such clause shall be reduced ratably. 20 (B) REMAINDER.— 21 (i) IN GENERAL.—From the remain- 22 der of any sums made available to carry 23 out this section and not reserved or allot- 24 ted under subparagraph (A), the Director 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:49 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698 4 •S 698 IS shall award grants to each State in an 1 amount that bears the same relation to 2 such remainder as the population of the 3 State bears to the population of all States. 4 (ii) DATA.—The population of each 5 State and of all the States shall be deter- 6 mined by the Director on the basis of the 7 most recent data available from the Bu- 8 reau of the Census. 9 (c) GRANTS, CONTRACTS, OR COOPERATIVE AGREE- 10 MENTS.—From amounts appropriated under subsection 11 (f), $2,000,000 shall be made available for the Director 12 of the Institute of Museum and Library Services for 13 grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with Federal 14 agencies, public and private organizations, and other enti- 15 ties determined to be eligible by the Director to enable 16 those agencies, organizations, and entities to carry out the 17 activities described in subsection (e). 18 (d) GRANTS FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—An Indian Tribe 19 or organization described in subsection (b)(1)(A) that is 20 eligible for support under section 261 of the Library Serv- 21 ices and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9161) may designate 22 a Tribal library or Tribal library consortium as a library 23 or consortium that is eligible for grant funds under this 24 section, without regard to whether the library or library 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:49 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698 5 •S 698 IS consortium is eligible for assistance from a State Library 1 Administrative Agency under the Library Services and 2 Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9121 et seq.), if the library 3 or library consortium is eligible for support from an In- 4 dian Tribe or organization described in subsection 5 (b)(1)(A) under such section 261. 6 (e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—Each State, Indian 7 Tribe, or other entity receiving a grant, contract, or coop- 8 erative agreement under this section shall use funding 9 under this section to— 10 (1) expand digital network access by purchasing 11 and distributing internet-connected devices, such as 12 hotspots, to libraries in low-income and rural areas 13 so that those libraries can— 14 (A) allow individuals to borrow internet- 15 connected devices for home use; and 16 (B) install or upgrade public Wi-Fi access 17 points for use on or near library grounds, in- 18 cluding modems, routers, items that combine a 19 modem and a router, and other equipment that 20 might be needed to support increased 21 broadband capacity; 22 (2) provide libraries with funds to pay the other 23 expenses associated with such devices and related 24 services, such as processing, training, associated 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:49 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698 6 •S 698 IS connectivity, hardware and support, and other nec- 1 essary expenses related to the retention of these de- 2 vices and provision of these services; or 3 (3) encourage existing and new partnerships be- 4 tween State and local governments, libraries, non- 5 profit entities, agencies including the Federal Com- 6 munications Commission, and telecommunication, 7 broadband, and internet service providers to coordi- 8 nate the distribution of hotspots and other internet- 9 connected devices and services. 10 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 12 $200,000,000. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:49 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698