Digital Equity Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1841 To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish a State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 11, 2021 Mr. MCNERNEY (for himself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, and Mr. TORRES of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information to establish a State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Digital Equity Act of 4 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADOPTION OF BROADBAND.—The term 8 ‘‘adoption of broadband’’ means the process by 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1841 IH which an individual obtains daily access to the inter- 1 net— 2 (A) at a speed, quality, and capacity— 3 (i) that is necessary for the individual 4 to accomplish common tasks; and 5 (ii) such that the access qualifies as 6 an advanced telecommunications capability; 7 (B) with the digital skills that are nec- 8 essary for the individual to participate online; 9 and 10 (C) on a— 11 (i) personal device; and 12 (ii) secure and convenient network. 13 (2) ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPA- 14 BILITY.—The term ‘‘advanced telecommunications 15 capability’’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 16 tion 706(d) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 17 (47 U.S.C. 1302(d)). 18 (3) AGING INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘aging indi- 19 vidual’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘older indi- 20 vidual’’ in section 102 of the Older Americans Act 21 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002). 22 (4) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 23 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 24 gress’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1841 IH (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the Senate; 2 (B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 3 and Transportation of the Senate; 4 (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 5 the House of Representatives; and 6 (D) the Committee on Energy and Com- 7 merce of the House of Representatives. 8 (5) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 9 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 10 Commerce for Communications and Information. 11 (6) COMMUNITY ANCHOR INSTITUTION.—The 12 term ‘‘community anchor institution’’ means a pub- 13 lic school, a library, a medical or healthcare pro- 14 vider, a community college or other institution of 15 higher education, a State library agency, and any 16 other nonprofit or governmental community support 17 organization. 18 (7) COVERED HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘covered 19 household’’ means a household, the taxable income 20 of which for the most recently completed taxable 21 year is not more than 150 percent of an amount 22 equal to the poverty level, as determined by using 23 criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of the 24 Census. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1841 IH (8) COVERED POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov- 1 ered populations’’ means— 2 (A) individuals who live in covered house- 3 holds; 4 (B) aging individuals; 5 (C) incarcerated individuals, other than in- 6 dividuals who are incarcerated in a Federal cor- 7 rectional facility; 8 (D) veterans; 9 (E) individuals with disabilities; 10 (F) individuals with a language barrier, in- 11 cluding individuals who— 12 (i) are English learners; and 13 (ii) have low levels of literacy; 14 (G) individuals who are members of a ra- 15 cial or ethnic minority group; and 16 (H) individuals who primarily reside in a 17 rural area. 18 (9) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘covered 19 programs’’ means the State Digital Equity Capacity 20 Grant Program established under section 4 and the 21 Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program estab- 22 lished under section 5. 23 (10) DIGITAL EQUITY.—The term ‘‘digital eq- 24 uity’’ means the condition in which individuals and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1841 IH communities have the information technology capac- 1 ity that is needed for full participation in the society 2 and economy of the United States. 3 (11) DIGITAL INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘digital 4 inclusion’’— 5 (A) means the activities that are necessary 6 to ensure that all individuals in the United 7 States have access to, and the use of, affordable 8 information and communication technologies, 9 such as— 10 (i) reliable broadband internet service; 11 (ii) internet-enabled devices that meet 12 the needs of the user; and 13 (iii) applications and online content 14 designed to enable and encourage self-suf- 15 ficiency, participation, and collaboration; 16 and 17 (B) includes— 18 (i) obtaining access to digital literacy 19 training; 20 (ii) the provision of quality technical 21 support; and 22 (iii) obtaining basic awareness of 23 measures to ensure online privacy and cy- 24 bersecurity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1841 IH (12) DIGITAL LITERACY.—The term ‘‘digital lit- 1 eracy’’ means the skills associated with using tech- 2 nology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, 3 create, and communicate information. 4 (13) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has 5 the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 6 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 7 12102). 8 (14) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 9 State’’ means— 10 (A) with respect to planning grants made 11 available under section 4(c)(3), a State with re- 12 spect to which the Assistant Secretary has ap- 13 proved an application submitted to the Assist- 14 ant Secretary under section 4(c)(3)(C); and 15 (B) with respect to capacity grants award- 16 ed under section 4(d), a State with respect to 17 which the Assistant Secretary has approved an 18 application submitted to the Assistant Secretary 19 under section 4(d)(2), including approval of the 20 State Digital Equity Plan developed by the 21 State under section 4(c). 22 (15) GENDER IDENTITY.—The term ‘‘gender 23 identity’’ has the meaning given the term in section 24 249(c) of title 18, United States Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1841 IH (16) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 1 has the meaning given the term in section 4(e) of 2 the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist- 3 ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 4 (17) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 5 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’— 6 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- 7 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 8 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 9 (B) includes a postsecondary vocational in- 10 stitution. 11 (18) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 12 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 13 the term in section 8101(30) of the Elementary and 14 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15 7801(30)). 16 (19) POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL INSTITU- 17 TION.—The term ‘‘postsecondary vocational institu- 18 tion’’ has the meaning given the term in section 19 102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 20 U.S.C. 1002(c)). 21 (20) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 22 the meaning given the term in section 601(b)(3) of 23 the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 24 950bb(b)(3)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1841 IH (21) SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVAN- 1 TAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term ‘‘so- 2 cially and economically disadvantaged small business 3 concern’’ has the meaning given the term in section 4 8(a)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 5 637(a)(4)). 6 (22) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 7 (A) any State of the United States; 8 (B) the District of Columbia; and 9 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 10 (23) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 11 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 12 United States Code. 13 (24) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.— 14 The term ‘‘workforce development program’’ has the 15 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Work- 16 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 17 3102). 18 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 19 It is the sense of Congress that— 20 (1) a broadband connection and digital literacy 21 are increasingly critical to how individuals— 22 (A) participate in the society, economy, 23 and civic institutions of the United States; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1841 IH (B) access health care and essential serv- 1 ices, obtain education, and build careers; 2 (2) digital exclusion— 3 (A) carries a high societal and economic 4 cost; 5 (B) materially harms the opportunity of an 6 individual with respect to the economic success, 7 educational achievement, positive health out- 8 comes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of 9 that individual; and 10 (C) exacerbates existing wealth and income 11 gaps, especially those experienced by covered 12 populations; 13 (3) achieving digital equity for all people of the 14 United States requires additional and sustained in- 15 vestment and research efforts; 16 (4) the Federal Government, as well as State, 17 tribal, territorial, and local governments, have made 18 social, legal, and economic obligations that nec- 19 essarily extend to how the citizens and residents of 20 those governments access and use the internet; and 21 (5) achieving digital equity is a matter of social 22 and economic justice and is worth pursuing. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1841 IH SEC. 4. STATE DIGITAL EQUITY CAPACITY GRANT PRO- 1 GRAM. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT; PURPOSE.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 4 shall establish in the Department of Commerce the 5 State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program (re- 6 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Program’’)— 7 (A) the purpose of which is to promote the 8 achievement of digital equity, support digital in- 9 clusion activities, and build capacity for efforts 10 by States relating to the adoption of broadband 11 by residents of those States; 12 (B) through which the Assistant Secretary 13 shall make grants to States in accordance with 14 the requirements of this section; and 15 (C) which shall ensure that States have the 16 capacity to promote the achievement of digital 17 equity and support digital inclusion activities. 18 (2) CONSULTATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL 19 AGENCIES; NO CONFLICT.—In establishing the Pro- 20 gram under paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary 21 shall— 22 (A) consult with— 23 (i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 24 (ii) the Secretary of Housing and 25 Urban Development; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1841 IH (iii) the Secretary of Education; 1 (iv) the Secretary of Labor; 2 (v) the Secretary of Health and 3 Human Services; 4 (vi) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 5 (vii) the Secretary of the Interior; 6 (viii) the Federal Communications 7 Commission; 8 (ix) the Federal Trade Commission; 9 (x) the Director of the Institute of 10 Museum and Library Services; 11 (xi) the Administrator of the Small 12 Business Administration; 13 (xii) the Federal Cochairman of the 14 Appalachian Regional Commission; and 15 (xiii) the head of any other agency 16 that the Assistant Secretary determines to 17 be appropriate; and 18 (B) ensure that the Program complements 19 and enhances, and does not conflict with, other 20 Federal broadband initiatives and programs. 21 (b) ADMINISTERING ENTITY.— 22 (1) SELECTION; FUNCTION.—The governor (or 23 equivalent official) of a State that wishes to be 24 awarded a grant under this section shall, from 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1841 IH among entities that are eligible under paragraph (2), 1 select an administering entity for that State, which 2 shall— 3 (A) serve as the recipient of, and admin- 4 istering agent for, any grant awarded to the 5 State under this section; 6 (B) develop, implement, and oversee the 7 State Digital Equity Plan for the State de- 8 scribed in subsection (c); 9 (C) make subgrants to any entity described 10 in subsection (c)(1)(D) that is located in the 11 State in support of— 12 (i) the State Digital Equity Plan for 13 the State; and 14 (ii) digital inclusion activities in the 15 State generally; and 16 (D) serve as— 17 (i) an advocate for digital equity pol- 18 icy and digital inclusion activities; and 19 (ii) a repository of best practice mate- 20 rials regarding the policies and activities 21 described in clause (i). 22 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Any of the following 23 entities may serve as the administering entity for a 24 State for the purposes of this section if the entity 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1841.IH H1841 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1841 IH has demonstrated a capacity to administer the Pro- 1 gram on a statewide level: 2 (A) The State, a political subdivision, 3 agency, or instrumentality of the State, an In- 4 dian tribe located in the State, an Alaska Na- 5 tive entity located in the State, or a Native Ha- 6 waiian organization located in the State. 7 (B) A foundation, corporation, institution, 8 association, or coalition that is— 9 (i) a not-for-profit entity; 10 (ii) located in the State; and 11 (iii) not a school. 12 (C) A community anchor institution, other 13 than a school, that is located in the State. 14 (D) A local educational agency that is lo- 15 cated in the State. 16 (E) An entity located in the State that car- 17 ries out a workforce developme [Text truncated for display. 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