American Broadband Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3435 To establish a broadband expansion grant program, to streamline the permit- ting process for fixed and mobile broadband services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mrs. RODGERS of Washington (for herself and Mr. LATTA) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Ag- riculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To establish a broadband expansion grant program, to streamline the permitting process for fixed and mobile broadband services, 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 ‘‘American Broadband 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3435 IH Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. TITLE I—BROADBAND EXPANSION Sec. 101. Broadband expansion grant program. Sec. 102. Mobile broadband expansion grant program. TITLE II—BOOSTING BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY Sec. 201. Wireless leadership. Sec. 202. Broadband leadership. Sec. 203. Cable leadership. Sec. 204. Cable expansion. Sec. 205. Cable competition. Sec. 206. Cable transparency. Sec. 207. Communities over regulating networks need economic competition today. Sec. 208. Streamlining permitting to enable efficient deployment of broadband infrastructure. Sec. 209. Wireless broadband competition and efficient deployment. Sec. 210. Broadband competition and efficient deployment. Sec. 211. Wireless resiliency and flexible investment. Sec. 212. Broadband resiliency and flexible investment. Sec. 213. Proportional reviews for broadband deployment. Sec. 214. Protecting critical infrastructure. Sec. 215. Reducing antiquated permitting for infrastructure deployment. Sec. 216. Coastal broadband deployment. Sec. 217. Brownfields broadband deployment. Sec. 218. Trusted broadband networks. Sec. 219. Connecting communities post disaster. Sec. 220. Wildfire wireless resiliency. Sec. 221. Standard fees. Sec. 222. Expediting Federal broadband deployment. Sec. 223. Federal broadband deployment in unserved areas. Sec. 224. Federal broadband deployment tracking. TITLE I—BROADBAND 1 EXPANSION 2 SEC. 101. BROADBAND EXPANSION GRANT PROGRAM. 3 (a) NOTIFICATION OF CREATION OF BROADBAND 4 MAPS; DATA SHARING.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 business 6 days after creating the maps required under section 7 802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 642(c)(1)), the Commission shall notify the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3435 IH Assistant Secretary that such maps have been cre- 1 ated. 2 (2) DATA SHARING.—Not less frequently than 3 annually, the Commission shall, through the process 4 established under section 802(b)(7) of the Commu- 5 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 642(b)(7)), provide 6 the Assistant Secretary any data collected by the 7 Commission pursuant to title VIII of such Act. 8 (b) BROADBAND GRANT PROGRAM.— 9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM; NO- 10 TICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY.—The Assistant 11 Secretary shall, not later than 1 year after the As- 12 sistant Secretary is notified as described in sub- 13 section (a)(1)— 14 (A) establish a program to make grants on 15 a competitive basis, from amounts made avail- 16 able to carry out this section, to covered part- 17 nerships for covered broadband projects; and 18 (B) publish a Notice of Funding Oppor- 19 tunity in the Federal Register that includes in- 20 formation about such program, including any 21 requirement established by this section. 22 (2) LIMITATION.—The Assistant Secretary may 23 not make a grant under this section before the date 24 that is 1 year after the date on which the Assistant 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3435 IH Secretary is notified as described in subsection 1 (a)(1). 2 (3) COORDINATION.—In making a grant award 3 under paragraph (1), in order to avoid overbuilding 4 in areas where Federal funds have already been 5 awarded, the Assistant Secretary shall coordinate 6 with— 7 (A) the Chairman of the Commission; 8 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture; and 9 (C) the Assistant Secretary of Commerce 10 for Economic Development. 11 (4) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for a 13 grant under this section, a covered partnership 14 shall submit an application at such time, in 15 such manner, and containing such information 16 as the Assistant Secretary may require, but the 17 application shall, at a minimum, include a de- 18 scription of— 19 (i) the covered partnership submitting 20 the application under this subsection; 21 (ii) the covered broadband project to 22 be funded by the grant, including the 23 speed or speeds at which the covered part- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3435 IH nership plans to offer broadband service 1 under the project; 2 (iii) the cost of the covered broadband 3 project to be funded by the grant, includ- 4 ing— 5 (I) a description of how the re- 6 quired construction will be funded; 7 (II) all estimated project costs 8 for all facilities that are required to 9 complete the project, including the 10 costs of upgrading, replacing, or oth- 11 erwise modifying the existing facilities 12 to expand coverage or meet perform- 13 ance requirements; 14 (III) a description of how grant 15 funds will be used in combination with 16 other funds to support the broadband 17 service project; 18 (IV) in the case of a broadband 19 service project that will be partially 20 supported by loans, financial projec- 21 tions demonstrating that the covered 22 partnership can cover the necessary 23 debt service payments over the life of 24 any loan; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3435 IH (V) financial projections dem- 1 onstrating that the covered partner- 2 ship will remain financially stable at 3 the conclusion of the grant award; 4 (iv) the area to be served by the cov- 5 ered broadband project (in this section re- 6 ferred to as the ‘‘proposed service area’’); 7 (v) how the State, political subdivi- 8 sion, or political subdivisions in the covered 9 partnership chose which provider of 10 broadband service to enter into a partner- 11 ship with for the purposes of applying for 12 a grant under this section; and 13 (vi) any support provided to the pro- 14 vider of broadband service that is in the 15 covered partnership through— 16 (I) any grant, loan, or loan guar- 17 antee provided by a State to the pro- 18 vider of broadband service for the de- 19 ployment of broadband service in the 20 proposed service area; 21 (II) any grant, loan, or loan 22 guarantee with respect to the pro- 23 posed service area provided by the 24 Secretary of Agriculture under title 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3435 IH VI of the Rural Electrification Act of 1 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb et seq.), includ- 2 ing the Broadband Grants, Loans, 3 and Loan Guarantees program, the 4 Community Connect Programs, and 5 the ReConnect Pilot Program; 6 (III) any high-cost universal serv- 7 ice support provided under section 8 254 of the Communications Act of 9 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); 10 (IV) any grant provided under 11 section 6001 of the American Recov- 12 ery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 13 U.S.C. 1305); 14 (V) the Education Stabilization 15 Fund under title VIII of division B of 16 the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 17 136); 18 (VI) any grant, loan, or loan 19 guarantee provided by the Federal 20 Government for the provision of 21 broadband service; or 22 (VII) any legally enforceable 23 broadband deployment obligations to 24 which the provider of broadband serv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3435 IH ice is subject in the eligible service 1 area. 2 (B) REQUIREMENT TO STREAMLINE PER- 3 MITTING PROCESS.— 4 (i) IN GENERAL.—In order for a cov- 5 ered partnership to be eligible for a grant 6 under this section each covered entity may 7 only charge a fee to consider an applica- 8 tion for the placement, construction, or 9 modification of a facility for the provision 10 of broadband service, personal wireless 11 services, or telecommunications service in 12 the proposed service area or an application 13 to use a right-of-way or a facility in a 14 right-of-way owned or managed by that en- 15 tity for the placement, construction, or 16 modification of a facility for the provision 17 of any such service in the proposed service 18 area, if the fee for considering such appli- 19 cation is— 20 (I) nondiscriminatory; 21 (II) publicly disclosed; and 22 (III) based on actual and direct 23 costs, such as costs for the review and 24 processing of such applications. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3435 IH (ii) COVERED ENTITY DEFINED.—In 1 this paragraph, the term ‘‘covered entity’’ 2 means— 3 (I) an entity in the partnership 4 that is a State or political subdivision 5 of a State; and 6 (II) a political subdivision in 7 which all or part of the proposed serv- 8 ice area is located. 9 (5) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 10 section, the Assistant Secretary shall give priority to 11 applications for covered broadband projects as fol- 12 lows (in decreasing order of priority): 13 (A) Covered broadband projects designed 14 to provide broadband service to the greatest 15 number of households in an eligible service 16 area. 17 (B) Covered broadband projects designed 18 to provide broadband service in an eligible serv- 19 ice area that is wholly within any area other 20 than— 21 (i) a county, city, or town that has a 22 population of greater than 50,000 inhab- 23 itants; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3435 IH (ii) the urbanized area contiguous and 1 adjacent to such a city or town. 2 (C) Covered broadband projects that are 3 most cost-effective, prioritizing such areas that 4 are most rural. 5 (D) Covered broadband projects designed 6 to provide broadband service with a download 7 speed of at least 100 megabits per second and 8 an upload speed of at least 20 megabits per sec- 9 ond. 10 (E) Any other covered broadband project 11 that meets the requirements of this section. 12 (6) FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION.—The amount of 13 any grant provided to a covered partnership under 14 this section may not exceed 75 percent of the total 15 cost of the covered broadband project. 16 (7) GRANT CONDITIONS.— 17 (A) REQUIREMENTS.—As a condition of 18 receiving a grant under this section for a cov- 19 ered broadband project that involves placing fa- 20 cilities along a roadway, the Assistant Secretary 21 shall require the covered partnership receiving 22 the grant to include consistent access points to 23 allow access to such facilities, in accordance 24 with any best practices established by the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3435 IH mission regarding the placement of conduit ac- 1 cess points. 2 (B) PROHIBITIONS.—As a condition of re- 3 ceiving a grant under this section, the Assistant 4 Secretary shall prohibit— 5 (i) a provider of broadband service 6 that is in the covered partnership receiving 7 the grant under this section— 8 (I) from using grant amounts 9 provided under this section to repay, 10 or make any other payment relating 11 to, a loan made by any public or pri- 12 vate lender; 13 (II) from using grant amounts 14 provided under this section as collat- 15 eral for a loan made by any public or 16 private lender; and 17 (III) from using more than 18 $75,000 of grant amounts provided 19 under this section to pay for the prep- 20 aration of an application for a grant 21 under this section; and 22 (ii) a State, or a political subdivision 23 of the State, that is in the covered partner- 24 ship receiving the grant under this section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3435 IH from, after accepting a grant under this 1 section offering broadband service. 2 (C) NONDISCRIMINATION.—The Assistant 3 Secretary may not require a provider of 4 broadband service that is in an eligible partner- 5 ship to be designated as an eligible tele- 6 communications carrier pursuant to section 7 214(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 214(e)) to be eligible to receive a grant 9 under this section or as a condition of receiving 10 a grant under this section. 11 (8) BUILD-OUT, NOTIFICATION, AND ACCOUNT- 12 ABILITY REQUIREMENT.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Sec- 14 retary shall establish build-out, accountability, 15 and (in accordance with paragraph (8)) report- 16 ing requirements for covered partnerships that 17 receive grants under this section, including, for 18 each covered partnership that receives a grant 19 under this section, milestones for the deploy- 20 ment of broadband service under the covered 21 broadband project funded by the grant. 22 (B) NOTIFICATION TO COMMISSION.— 23 Upon establishing a build-out, accountability, or 24 reporting requirement under subparagraph (A), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3435.IH H3435 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3435 IH the Assistant Secretary shall transmit to the 1 Commission a notification describing such re- 2 quirement. 3 (C) PENAL [Text truncated for display. 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