Office of Rural Broadband Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 454 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish the Office of Rural Broadband, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 12, 2019 Mr. CRAMER (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. HOEVEN, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to estab- lish the Office of Rural Broadband, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Office of Rural 4 Broadband Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL BROADBAND. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S454.IS S454 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 454 IS (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 2 United States Code. 3 (2) BROADBAND.—The term ‘‘broadband’’ has 4 the meaning given the term ‘‘advanced telecommuni- 5 cations capability’’ in section 706 of the Telecommu- 6 nications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302). 7 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 8 means the Federal Communications Commission. 9 (4) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of- 10 fice of Rural Broadband established under sub- 11 section (b). 12 (5) RURAL.—The term ‘‘rural’’ has the mean- 13 ing given the term in section 54.505(b)(3) of title 14 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 15 regulation. 16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 18 establish an Office of Rural Broadband. 19 (c) DUTIES.—The Office shall have the following du- 20 ties: 21 (1) Coordinate efforts with the Rural Utilities 22 Service of the Department of Agriculture and the 23 National Telecommunications and Information Ad- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S454.IS S454 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 454 IS ministration to ensure the mutual and complemen- 1 tary success of— 2 (A) the initiatives of the Commission; and 3 (B) the programs overseen by the other 4 agencies described in this paragraph. 5 (2) Coordinate with the Universal Service Ad- 6 ministrative Company to maintain updated informa- 7 tion regarding programs that deploy rural broad- 8 band. 9 (3) Coordinate with other agencies to remove 10 barriers to broadband deployment. 11 (4) Assess, and publish the assessment of, the 12 impact of proposed actions of the Commission on 13 rural consumers before the actions are voted upon or 14 taken. 15 (5) Track broadband subscription rates in rural 16 areas, using data collected by the Bureau of the 17 Census under section 103(d) of the Broadband Data 18 Improvement Act (47 U.S.C. 1303(d)). 19 (6) Coordinate with other bureaus and offices 20 of the Commission and other agencies to ensure con- 21 sistency and updating of broadband mapping in 22 rural areas. 23 (7) Include in the Communications Marketplace 24 Report required under section 13 of the Communica- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S454.IS S454 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 454 IS tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 163) a report on the 1 efforts of the Office to promote and sustain quality 2 and affordable rural communications services, in- 3 cluding voice service and broadband. 4 (8) Dedicate a representative to address stake- 5 holder questions and concerns. 6 (d) NO ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 7 Nothing in this section shall create any additional report- 8 ing requirement for a broadband provider. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S454.IS S454 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS