Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 745 To make high-speed broadband internet service accessible and affordable to all Americans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 15, 2021 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. WARREN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Mr. WYDEN) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To make high-speed broadband internet service accessible and affordable to all Americans, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. Sec. 4. Severability. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 745 IS TITLE I—DIGITAL EQUITY Sec. 1000. Definitions. Subtitle A—Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth Sec. 1101. Annual report of Office. Sec. 1102. Study and report on affordability of adoption of broadband service. Sec. 1103. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 1104. Study and recommendations to connect socially disadvantaged indi- viduals. Subtitle B—Digital Equity Programs Sec. 1201. State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program. Sec. 1202. Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. Sec. 1203. Policy research, data collection, analysis and modeling, evaluation, and dissemination. Sec. 1204. General provisions. TITLE II—BROADBAND AFFORDABILITY AND PRICING TRANSPARENCY Subtitle A—Broadband Affordability Sec. 2101. Authorization for additional funds for the Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund. Sec. 2102. Grants to States to strengthen National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier. Sec. 2103. Federal coordination between National Eligibility Verifier and Na- tional Accuracy Clearinghouse. Sec. 2104. Federal coordination between Lifeline and SNAP verification. Sec. 2105. Definitions. Subtitle B—Additional Authorization for Emergency Connectivity Fund Sec. 2201. Additional authorization for Emergency Connectivity Fund. Subtitle C—Additional Authorization for Connecting Minority Communities Fund. Sec. 2301. Additional authorization for Connecting Minority Communities Fund. Subtitle D—Pricing Transparency Sec. 2401. Definitions. Sec. 2402. Broadband transparency. Sec. 2403. Distribution of data. Sec. 2404. Coordination with certain other Federal agencies. Sec. 2405. Adoption of consumer broadband labels. Sec. 2406. GAO report. TITLE III—BROADBAND ACCESS Subtitle A—Expansion of Broadband Access Sec. 3101. Expansion of broadband access in unserved areas and areas with low-tier or mid-tier service. Sec. 3102. Tribal internet expansion. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 745 IS Subtitle B—Broadband Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Sec. 3201. Short title. Sec. 3202. Definitions. Sec. 3203. Determination of eligibility and project selection. Sec. 3204. Secured loans. Sec. 3205. Lines of credit. Sec. 3206. Alternative prudential lending standards for small projects. Sec. 3207. Program administration. Sec. 3208. State and local permits. Sec. 3209. Regulations. Sec. 3210. Funding. Sec. 3211. Reports to Congress. Subtitle C—Wi-Fi on School Buses Sec. 3301. E-rate support for school bus Wi-Fi. Subtitle D—Healthcare Broadband Expansion. Sec. 3401. Definitions. Sec. 3402. Expansion of Rural Health Care Program. Subtitle E—Internet Exchange and Submarine Cable Grants. Sec. 3501. Definitions. Sec. 3502. Internet exchange facility grants. Sec. 3503. Submarine cable landing station grants. Sec. 3504. Report. Sec. 3505. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 3506. Return of certain grant amounts. TITLE IV—COMMUNITY BROADBAND Sec. 4001. State, local, public-private partnership, and co-op broadband serv- ices. TITLE V—BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT Sec. 5001. Broadband infrastructure deployment. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AGING INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘aging indi- 3 vidual’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘older indi- 4 vidual’’ in section 102 of the Older Americans Act 5 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002). 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 745 IS (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 1 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 2 gress’’ means— 3 (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 4 the Senate; 5 (B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 6 and Transportation of the Senate; 7 (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 8 the House of Representatives; and 9 (D) the Committee on Energy and Com- 10 merce of the House of Representatives. 11 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 12 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 13 Commerce for Communications and Information. 14 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 16 (5) COVERED HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘covered 17 household’’ means a household the income of which 18 does not exceed 150 percent of the poverty thresh- 19 old, as determined by using criteria of poverty estab- 20 lished by the Bureau of the Census, for a household 21 of the size involved. 22 (6) COVERED POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov- 23 ered populations’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 745 IS (A) individuals who are members of cov- 1 ered households; 2 (B) aging individuals; 3 (C) incarcerated individuals, other than in- 4 dividuals who are incarcerated in a Federal cor- 5 rectional facility (including a private facility op- 6 erated under contract with the Federal Govern- 7 ment); 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; or 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 (7) DIGITAL LITERACY.—The term ‘‘digital lit- 19 eracy’’ means the skills associated with using tech- 20 nology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, 21 create, and communicate information. 22 (8) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 23 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Ameri- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 745 IS cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1 12102). 2 (9) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 3 agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘agency’’ 4 in section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 5 (10) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 6 has the meaning given such term in section 4(e) of 7 the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist- 8 ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 9 (11) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 10 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’— 11 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- 12 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 13 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 14 (B) includes a postsecondary vocational in- 15 stitution. 16 (12) 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 (13) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 22 the meaning given the term in section 13 of the 23 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 913). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 745 IS (14) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 1 ing given the term in section 3 of the Communica- 2 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 3 (15) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 4 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 5 United States Code. 6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 8 (1) a broadband service connection and digital 9 literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals— 10 (A) participate in the society, economy, 11 and civic institutions of the United States; and 12 (B) access health care and essential serv- 13 ices, obtain education, and build careers; 14 (2) digital exclusion— 15 (A) carries a high societal and economic 16 cost; 17 (B) materially harms the opportunity of an 18 individual with respect to the economic success, 19 educational achievement, positive health out- 20 comes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of 21 that individual; 22 (C) materially harms the opportunity of 23 areas where it is especially widespread with re- 24 spect to economic success, educational achieve- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 745 IS ment, positive health outcomes, social cohesion, 1 and civic institutions; and 2 (D) exacerbates existing wealth and income 3 gaps, especially those experienced by covered 4 populations and between regions; 5 (3) achieving accessible and affordable access to 6 broadband service, as well as digital literacy, for all 7 people of the United States requires additional and 8 sustained research efforts and investment; 9 (4) the Federal Government, as well as State, 10 Tribal, and local governments, have made social, 11 legal, and economic obligations that necessarily ex- 12 tend to how the citizens and residents of those gov- 13 ernments access and use the internet; and 14 (5) achieving accessible and affordable access to 15 broadband service is a matter of social and economic 16 justice and is worth pursuing. 17 (b) BROADBAND SERVICE DEFINED.—In this sec- 18 tion, the term ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given 19 the term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 20 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 21 successor regulation. 22 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 23 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 24 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 745 IS ment to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, 1 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 2 this Act, and the application of such provision or amend- 3 ment to any other person or circumstance, shall not be 4 affected thereby. 5 TITLE I—DIGITAL EQUITY 6 SEC. 1000. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this title: 8 (1) ADOPTION OF BROADBAND SERVICE.—The 9 term ‘‘adoption of broadband service’’ means the 10 process by which an individual obtains daily access 11 to broadband service— 12 (A) with a download speed of at least 25 13 megabits per second, an upload speed of at 14 least 3 megabits per second, and a latency that 15 is sufficiently low to allow real-time, interactive 16 applications; 17 (B) with the digital skills that are nec- 18 essary for the individual to participate online; 19 and 20 (C) on a— 21 (i) personal device; and 22 (ii) secure and convenient network. 23 (2) ANCHOR INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘anchor 24 institution’’ means a public or private school, a li- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 745 IS brary, a medical or healthcare provider, a museum, 1 a public safety entity, a public housing agency, a 2 community college, an institution of higher edu- 3 cation, a religious organization, or any other com- 4 munity support organization or agency. 5 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 6 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary, act- 7 ing through the Office. 8 (4) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 9 ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given the term 10 ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 8.1(b) 11 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 12 cessor regulation. 13 (5) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘covered 14 programs’’ means the State Digital Equity Capacity 15 Grant Program established under section 1201 and 16 the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program es- 17 tablished under section 1202. 18 (6) DIGITAL EQUITY.—The term ‘‘digital eq- 19 uity’’ means the condition in which individuals and 20 communities have the information technology capac- 21 ity that is needed for full participation in the society 22 and economy of the United States. 23 (7) DIGITAL INCLUSION ACTIVITIES.—The term 24 ‘‘digital inclusion activities’’— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 745 IS (A) means the activities that are necessary 1 to ensure that all individuals in the United 2 States have access to, and the use of, affordable 3 information and communication technologies, 4 such as— 5 (i) reliable broadband service; 6 (ii) internet-enabled devices that meet 7 the needs of the user; and 8 (iii) applications and online content 9 designed to enable and encourage self-suf- 10 ficiency, participation, and collaboration; 11 and 12 (B) includes— 13 (i) the provision of digital literacy 14 training; 15 (ii) the provision of quality technical 16 support; and 17 (iii) promoting basic awareness of 18 measures to ensure online privacy and cy- 19 bersecurity. 20 (8) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 21 State’’ means— 22 (A) with respect to planning grants made 23 available under section 1201(c)(3), a State with 24 respect to which the Assistant Secretary has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S745.IS S745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 745 IS approved an application submitted to the As- 1 sistant Secretary under subparagraph (C) of 2 such section; and 3 (B) with respect to capacity grants award- 4 ed under section 1201(d), a State with respect 5 to which the Assistant Secretary has approved 6 an application submitted to the Assistant Sec- 7 retary under paragraph (2) of such section. 8 (9) FEDERAL [Text truncated for display. 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