Broadband for All Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2411 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit to consumers to reimburse a portion of the cost of broadband infrastructure serving limited broadband districts. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 8, 2021 Mr. KILMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit to consumers to reimburse a portion of the cost of broadband infrastructure serving limited broadband districts. 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 for All Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2411.IH H2411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2411 IH SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR COST OF BROADBAND 1 INFRASTRUCTURE SERVING LIMITED BROAD- 2 BAND DISTRICTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 5 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol- 6 lowing new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 36C. COST OF BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE SERV- 8 ING LIMITED BROADBAND DISTRICTS. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any member of 10 a limited broadband district, there shall be allowed as a 11 credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for the tax- 12 able year an amount equal to 75 percent of the qualified 13 broadband infrastructure payments with respect to such 14 district paid or incurred by such person during such tax- 15 able year. 16 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The credit al- 17 lowed under subsection (a) with respect to any taxpayer 18 for any taxable year shall not exceed $10,000. 19 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 20 ‘‘(1) LIMITED BROADBAND DISTRICT.—The 21 term ‘limited broadband district’ means any group 22 of two or more persons if— 23 ‘‘(A) each such person enters into an 24 agreement with a public or private provider of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2411.IH H2411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2411 IH broadband Internet access service under 1 which— 2 ‘‘(i) such provider agrees to provide 3 qualified broadband service to such person, 4 and 5 ‘‘(ii) such person agrees to pay such 6 provider for such person’s share (deter- 7 mined pursuant to such agreement) of the 8 provider’s investment in infrastructure nec- 9 essary to provide such service, and 10 ‘‘(B) all of the qualified broadband service 11 provided pursuant to such agreements is pro- 12 vided to locations in an unserved broadband 13 community. 14 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE 15 PAYMENTS.—The term ‘qualified broadband infra- 16 structure payment’ means any payment described in 17 paragraph (1)(A)(ii). Such payment may include 18 reasonable interest charges. 19 ‘‘(3) UNSERVED BROADBAND COMMUNITY.— 20 The term ‘unserved broadband community’ means 21 any community that (as of the time the agreement 22 described in paragraph (1) is entered into)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2411.IH H2411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2411 IH ‘‘(A) is not served by any provider of quali- 1 fied broadband service (other than providers 2 using satellite technology), and 3 ‘‘(B) obtains a certification from all pro- 4 viders of broadband internet access service that 5 the Federal Communications Commission’s 6 most recent Form 477 data collection shows as 7 serving the census blocks in which such commu- 8 nity is located, stating that such providers do 9 not offer qualified broadband service to any lo- 10 cation within such community. 11 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED BROADBAND SERVICE.—The 12 term ‘qualified broadband service’ means broadband 13 Internet access service at download speeds of at 14 least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of 15 at least 3 megabits per second. 16 ‘‘(5) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV- 17 ICE.—The term ‘broadband Internet access service’ 18 has the meaning given such term in section 8.2 of 19 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 21 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is 22 amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2411.IH H2411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2411 IH (2) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 1 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ after 2 ‘‘36B,’’. 3 (3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 4 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev- 5 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 6 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 7 Sec. 36C. Cost of broadband infrastructure serving limited broadband districts. (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 9 date of the enactment of this Act. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2411.IH H2411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS