Connect America Fund Accountability Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 427 To amend section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 to provide report- ing requirements for recipients of funds that provide access in rural and high cost areas, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 10, 2019 Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, and Mr. LOUDERMILK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 to provide reporting requirements for recipients of funds that provide access in rural and high cost areas, 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 ‘‘Connect America Fund 4 Accountability Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H427.IH H427 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 427 IH SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR CONNECT AMER- 1 ICA FUND. 2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 254 of the Communica- 3 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding 4 at the end the following new subsection: 5 ‘‘(l) CONNECT AMERICA FUND REQUIREMENTS.— 6 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIREMENTS.—Any covered 7 telecommunications carrier shall submit to the Com- 8 mission a report in accordance with the require- 9 ments of any rule or regulation promulgated by the 10 Commission with regard to performance testing re- 11 quired for Connect America Fund recipients that in- 12 cludes the following: 13 ‘‘(A) The method of performance testing 14 chosen by the covered telecommunications car- 15 rier to demonstrate compliance with Connect 16 America Fund model-based support. 17 ‘‘(B) If a covered telecommunications car- 18 rier chooses to use self-testing software for the 19 performance testing described in subparagraph 20 (A), once every three years, information on the 21 software and methodology used to conduct the 22 test, including any algorithm or process relied 23 on within the self-testing software. 24 ‘‘(C) A speed and latency report in the 25 final quarter of the calendar year that includes 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H427.IH H427 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 427 IH a list of customer locations tested more than 1 twice during the year. 2 ‘‘(2) REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF CON- 3 SUMERS.—Any covered telecommunications carrier 4 when randomly choosing a testing pool for the per- 5 formance testing described in paragraph (1)(A) shall 6 ensure the sample of consumers tested is representa- 7 tive of the number of residences and businesses in 8 the Connect America Fund service area being re- 9 ported on. 10 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATIVE 11 COMPANY.— 12 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION OF AUDITS.—In de- 13 termining whether or not to conduct an audit of 14 a covered telecommunications carrier, the Ad- 15 ministrator shall consider the number and fre- 16 quency of complaints submitted to the Commis- 17 sion for the broadband service of that carrier. 18 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF AUDITS.— 19 Any audit conducted by the Administrator shall 20 be made available to the public. 21 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22 ‘‘(A) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Admin- 23 istrator’ means the administrator of the Federal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H427.IH H427 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 427 IH universal service support mechanisms estab- 1 lished under this section. 2 ‘‘(B) COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 3 CARRIER.—The term ‘covered telecommuni- 4 cations carrier’ means an eligible telecommuni- 5 cations carrier that provides fixed broadband 6 internet access service and is subject to the 7 speed and latency testing requirements set forth 8 in any rule or regulation promulgated by the 9 Commission with regard to Connect America 10 Fund recipients.’’. 11 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 12 section (a) shall only apply with respect to support re- 13 ceived from the Connect America Fund established by the 14 Federal Communications Commission pursuant to its au- 15 thorities under section 254 of the Communications Act of 16 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) on or after the date of the enact- 17 ment of this Act. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H427.IH H427 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS