Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1908 To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, including by en- couraging the provision of broadband loans and grants to increase broadband service in rural ports, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 27, 2021 Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, including by encouraging the provision of broadband loans and grants to increase broadband serv- ice in rural ports, 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 Internet 4 for Small Ports Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1908 IS SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 1 SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 2 Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 3 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (c)— 5 (A) in paragraph (2)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 7 (I) in clause (i)— 8 (aa) by striking ‘‘of at 9 least—’’ and inserting a semi- 10 colon; and 11 (bb) by striking subclauses 12 (I) and (II); 13 (II) in clause (iii), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 (III) in clause (iv), by striking 16 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 17 and’’; and 18 (IV) by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(v) give priority to applications for 21 projects to provide rapid and expanded de- 22 ployment of fixed and mobile broadband on 23 cropland and ranchland within a service 24 territory for use in various applications of 25 precision agriculture.’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1908 IS (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 1 (I) in clause (i)— 2 (aa) in subclause (III), by 3 inserting ‘‘or’’ after the semi- 4 colon; 5 (bb) in subclause (IV), by 6 striking ‘‘or’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘and’’; and 8 (cc) by striking subclause 9 (V); and 10 (II) in clause (ii)— 11 (aa) in the matter preceding 12 subclause (I), by striking ‘‘2’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘1’’; 14 (bb) in subclause (IV), by 15 inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi- 16 colon; 17 (cc) in subclause (V), by 18 striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a 19 period at the end; and 20 (dd) by striking subclause 21 (VI); and 22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 ‘‘(C) PORTS IN RURAL AREAS PRIORITY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1908 IS ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF PORT.—In this 1 subparagraph, the term ‘port’ means— 2 ‘‘(I) any port on the navigable 3 waters of the United States, including 4 territories; 5 ‘‘(II) any harbor, marine ter- 6 minal, or other shore side facility used 7 principally for the movement of goods 8 on inland waters; and 9 ‘‘(III) any port formed in accord- 10 ance with applicable State or territory 11 law. 12 ‘‘(ii) PRIORITY.—In addition to the 13 priority given under subparagraph (B), the 14 Secretary shall give equal priority to an 15 application for a project that would in- 16 crease the availability of broadband service 17 in a port in a rural area. 18 ‘‘(D) IDENTIFICATION OF UNSERVED COM- 19 MUNITIES.— 20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 21 application given the highest priority under 22 subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary shall 23 confirm that each unserved rural commu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1908 IS nity identified in the application is eligible 1 for funding by— 2 ‘‘(I) conferring with and obtain- 3 ing data from the Chair of the Fed- 4 eral Communications Commission and 5 the Administrator of the National 6 Telecommunications and Information 7 Administration with respect to the 8 service area proposed in the applica- 9 tion; 10 ‘‘(II) reviewing any other source 11 that is relevant to service data valida- 12 tion, as determined by the Secretary; 13 and 14 ‘‘(III) performing site-specific 15 testing to verify the unavailability of 16 any residential broadband service in 17 the unserved rural community. 18 ‘‘(ii) ADJUSTMENTS.—Not less often 19 than once every 2 years, the Secretary 20 shall review, and may adjust through no- 21 tice published in the Federal Register, the 22 unserved communities identified under 23 clause (i).’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1908 IS (B) in paragraph (3), by striking subpara- 1 graphs (C) and (D) and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(C) MAXIMUM.—Except as provided in 3 subparagraph (D), the amount of any grant 4 made under this section shall not exceed 50 5 percent of the development costs of the project 6 for which the grant is provided. 7 ‘‘(D) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO AD- 8 JUST.—The Secretary may make grants of up 9 to 75 percent of the development costs of the 10 project for which the grant is provided to an el- 11 igible entity if the Secretary determines that 12 the project serves— 13 ‘‘(i) an area of rural households de- 14 scribed in paragraph (2)(A)(ii); and 15 ‘‘(ii) a rural community described in 16 any of subclauses (I) through (IV) of para- 17 graph (2)(B)(i).’’; 18 (2) in subsection (d)— 19 (A) in paragraph (1)— 20 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 21 ‘‘subsection (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 22 (l)’’; and 23 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1908 IS ‘‘(C) RELATION TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 1 HIGH-COST SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall 2 communicate with the Federal Communications 3 Commission to ensure that any grants, loans, or 4 loan guarantees made under this section pro- 5 vide a level of service that is not less than the 6 level of service provided through universal serv- 7 ice high-cost support (as defined in section 54.5 8 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 9 successor regulation) provided by the Commis- 10 sion.’’; 11 (B) in paragraph (2)— 12 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 13 (I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘50’’ 14 and inserting ‘‘90’’; and 15 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘2’’; and 17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(6) APPLICATION PROCESS.—The Secretary 19 shall provide to an applicant of a grant, loan, or 20 loan guarantee under this section feedback and deci- 21 sions on funding in a timely manner.’’; 22 (3) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as 23 subsections (l) and (m), respectively; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1908 IS (4) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(j) BROADBAND BUILDOUT DATA.—As a condition 3 of receiving a grant, loan, or loan guarantee under this 4 section, a recipient of assistance shall provide to the Sec- 5 retary complete, reliable, and precise geolocation informa- 6 tion that indicates the location of new broadband service 7 that is being provided or upgraded within the service terri- 8 tory supported by the grant, loan, or loan guarantee not 9 later than 30 days after the earlier of— 10 ‘‘(1) the date of completion of any project mile- 11 stone established by the Secretary; or 12 ‘‘(2) the date of completion of the project. 13 ‘‘(k) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS.—The Secretary 14 may obligate, but not disperse, funds under this Act before 15 the completion of otherwise required environmental, his- 16 torical, or other types of reviews if the Secretary deter- 17 mines that a subsequent site-specific review shall be ade- 18 quate and easily accomplished for the location of towers, 19 poles, or other broadband facilities in the service area of 20 the borrower without compromising the project or the re- 21 quired reviews.’’; and 22 (5) in subsection (l)(2)(A) (as so redesig- 23 nated)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1908 IS (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1 end; 2 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 3 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(iii) set aside at least 1 percent to be 6 used for— 7 ‘‘(I) conducting oversight under 8 this section; and 9 ‘‘(II) implementing accountability 10 measures and related activities au- 11 thorized under this section.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS