Broadband Justice Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1904 To include broadband as a utility that tenants residing in federally assisted housing can have subsidized by the Federal Government, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 16, 2021 Mr. BOWMAN (for himself and Mr. CLEAVER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi- tion to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To include broadband as a utility that tenants residing in federally assisted housing can have subsidized by the Federal Government, 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 ‘‘Broadband Justice Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1904 IH (1) the digital divide falls along racial and eco- 1 nomic lines; 2 (2) during the COVID-19 pandemic, research 3 determined that African American and Hispanic 4 households were 1.3 to 1.4 times as likely as White 5 households to experience limited accessibility to the 6 internet; 7 (3) 44 percent of low-income Americans who 8 make less than $30,000 did not have home 9 broadband services in 2019; and 10 (4) low-income families and individuals living in 11 federally assisted housing often lack access to high- 12 quality broadband, and monthly broadband costs can 13 be prohibitively expensive, which limits their ability 14 to undertake essential activities, including remote 15 healthcare visits, school assignments, job searches, 16 and obtaining information about supportive re- 17 sources. 18 SEC. 3. UTILITY ALLOWANCES FOR FEDERALLY ASSISTED 19 HOUSING. 20 (a) HUD-ASSISTED HOUSING.— 21 (1) PUBLIC HOUSING AND SECTION 8 ASSIST- 22 ANCE.—Section 3 of the United States Housing Act 23 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a) is amended by adding at 24 the end the following new subsection: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1904 IH ‘‘(e) UTILITY ALLOWANCE.—A monthly utility allow- 1 ance under this Act with respect to any dwelling unit in 2 public housing or assisted under section 8 shall include 3 reasonable costs for broadband high-speed internet serv- 4 ice.’’. 5 (2) PUBLIC HOUSING OPERATING COSTS.— 6 Paragraph (1) of section 9(e) of the United States 7 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(e)(1)) is 8 amended— 9 (A) in subparagraph (J), by striking ‘‘and’’ 10 at the end; 11 (B) in subparagraph (K), by striking the 12 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(L) the costs attributable to inclusion in 15 the utility allowance for residents of public 16 housing of an allowance for broadband high 17 speed internet service.’’. 18 (3) SECTION 202 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR 19 THE ELDERLY.—Subsection (c) of section 202 of the 20 Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q(c)) is 21 amended by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(4) UTILITY ALLOWANCE.—A monthly utility 23 allowance with respect to any dwelling unit assisted 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1904 IH under this section shall include reasonable costs for 1 broadband high-speed internet service.’’. 2 (4) SECTION 811 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR 3 PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.—Subsection (d) of 4 section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Af- 5 fordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013(d)) is amend- 6 ed by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(5) UTILITY ALLOWANCE.—A monthly utility 8 allowance with respect to any dwelling unit assisted 9 under this section shall include reasonable costs for 10 broadband high-speed internet service.’’. 11 (5) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the expira- 12 tion of the 6-month period beginning on the date of 13 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing 14 and Urban Development shall revise the regulations 15 of the Secretary, including sections 982.517 and 16 5.603 and part 990 of title 24, Code of Federal Reg- 17 ulations, to comply with and carry out the amend- 18 ments made by subsections (a) and (b) of this sec- 19 tion, and shall develop a schedule of regional rates 20 for broadband costs for use by public housing agen- 21 cies in setting reasonable costs of broadband high 22 speed internet service. 23 (b) RURAL ASSISTED HOUSING.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1904 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 501 of the Housing 1 Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471) is amended by adding 2 at the end the following new subsection: 3 ‘‘(k) UTILITY ALLOWANCE.—In the case of a dwell- 4 ing unit in any housing project assisted with a loan or 5 grant under section 514, 515, or 516 or rental assistance 6 under section 521, the monthly utility allowance under 7 this title shall include reasonable costs for broadband 8 high-speed internet service.’’. 9 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the expira- 10 tion of the 6-month period beginning on the date of 11 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri- 12 culture shall revise the regulations of the Secretary, 13 including section 3560.202 of title 7, Code of Fed- 14 eral Regulations, to comply with and carry out the 15 amendment made by subsection (a) of this section. 16 (c) LOW-INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDIT PROP- 17 ERTIES.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 42(g)(2)(B)(ii) of 19 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 20 inserting ‘‘(including any determination pursuant to 21 section 3(e) of such Act)’’ before the comma at the 22 end. 23 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the expira- 24 tion of the 6-month period beginning on the date of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1904 IH the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 1 Treasury shall revise the regulations of the Sec- 2 retary, including section 1.42–10 of title 26, Code of 3 Federal Regulations, to comply with and carry out 4 the amendment made by subsection (a) of this sec- 5 tion. 6 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 7 authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2022 and 8 each fiscal year thereafter $5,000,000,000 for costs of car- 9 rying out the provisions added by the amendments made 10 by this section. 11 SEC. 4. CONNECTED COMMUNITIES GRANTS AND LOANS. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 13 Urban Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the 14 Secretary of the Treasury shall jointly carry out a grant 15 and loan program under this section to provide access to 16 broadband high-speed internet service to residents of fed- 17 erally assisted housing. 18 (b) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts made available 19 for the program under this section may be used only for 20 grants and loans made to further the goal of providing 21 universal access to broadband high-speed internet service 22 to all residents of federally assisted housing, as follows: 23 (1) Grants, including to providers of federally 24 assisted housing and public entities, to support 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1904 IH projects to provide all residents of affordable hous- 1 ing projects, including public housing (as such term 2 is defined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous- 3 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b))) and other 4 federally and State-assisted affordable housing 5 projects, with access to such internet service; grant- 6 ees are encouraged to partner with municipal and 7 other public or non-profit entities to support internet 8 access and may partner with a private broadband 9 service provider if the wiring costs charged by the 10 private partner to the grantee and the monthly 11 broadband costs charged to tenants do not exceed 12 the lower comparable cost for such access within the 13 same region. 14 (2) Grants to public housing agencies and own- 15 ers of housing assisted with rental assistance under 16 section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 17 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) for installation of such internet 18 service, including routers, modems, and other related 19 devices, and to provide training and support regard- 20 ing internet access and operating equipment. 21 (3) Direct loans to owners of housing assisted 22 under title V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 23 1471 et seq.) or under the low-income housing tax 24 credit program under section 42 of the Internal Rev- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1904 IH enue Code of 1986 for costs of installation of such 1 internet access in such housing. 2 (4) Grants to assist in rehabilitation activities 3 necessary to provide wiring, other infrastructure, 4 and other broadband assistance needs identified by 5 housing providers and their tenants in housing de- 6 scribed in this subsection as necessary to provide 7 such internet service, including tenant support serv- 8 ices relating to internet access, including educating 9 tenants on how to use the internet and facilitating 10 contact with internet service providers, except that 11 any infrastructure or wiring upgrades performed by 12 for-profit service providers shall include open access 13 infrastructure. 14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 15 authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2022 16 through 2025 such sums as may be necessary for grants 17 and costs (as such term is defined in section 502 of the 18 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 661a)) of 19 loans under this section. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1904.IH H1904 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS