Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 311 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1294 [Report No. 116–162] To require Federal agencies with jurisdiction over broadband deployment to enter into an interagency agreement related to certain types of funding for broadband deployment. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 2, 2019 Mr. WICKER (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. YOUNG, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Reported by Mr. WICKER, without amendment A BILL To require Federal agencies with jurisdiction over broadband deployment to enter into an interagency agreement re- lated to certain types of funding for broadband deploy- ment. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1294 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Inter- 2 agency Coordination Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 5 (1) the term ‘‘covered agency’’ means— 6 (A) the Federal Communications Commis- 7 sion; 8 (B) the Department of Agriculture; and 9 (C) the National Telecommunications and 10 Information Administration; and 11 (2) the term ‘‘high-cost programs’’ means— 12 (A) the program for Universal Service 13 Support for High-Cost Areas set forth under 14 subpart D of part 54 of title 47, Code of Fed- 15 eral Regulations, or any successor regulations; 16 (B) the Remote Areas Fund set forth 17 under subpart J of part 54 of title 47, Code of 18 Federal Regulations, or any successor regula- 19 tions; 20 (C) the Interstate Common Line Support 21 Mechanism for Rate-of-Return Carriers set 22 forth under subpart K of part 54 of title 47, 23 Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 24 regulations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1294 RS (D) the Mobility Fund set forth under sub- 1 part L of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal 2 Regulations, or any successor regulations; and 3 (E) the High Cost Loop Support for Rate- 4 of-Return Carriers program set forth under 5 subpart M of part 54 of title 47, Code of Fed- 6 eral Regulations, or any successor regulations. 7 (b) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.—Not later than 180 8 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the heads 9 of the covered agencies shall enter into an interagency 10 agreement requiring coordination between the covered 11 agencies for the distribution of funds for broadband de- 12 ployment under— 13 (1) the high-cost programs; 14 (2) the programs administered by the Rural 15 Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture; 16 and 17 (3) the programs administered by the National 18 Telecommunications and Information Administra- 19 tion. 20 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—In entering into an interagency 21 agreement with respect to the programs described in sub- 22 section (b), the heads of the covered agencies shall— 23 (1) require that the covered agencies share in- 24 formation with each other about existing or planned 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1294 RS projects that have received or will receive funds 1 under the programs described in subsection (b) for 2 new broadband deployment; 3 (2) provide that— 4 (A) subject to subparagraph (B), upon re- 5 quest from another covered agency with author- 6 ity to award or authorize any funds for new 7 broadband deployment in a project area, a cov- 8 ered agency shall provide the other covered 9 agency with any information the covered agency 10 possesses regarding, with respect to the project 11 area— 12 (i) each entity that provides broad- 13 band service in the area; 14 (ii) levels of broadband service pro- 15 vided in the area, including the speed of 16 broadband service and the technology pro- 17 vided; 18 (iii) the geographic scope of broad- 19 band service coverage in the area; and 20 (iv) each entity that has received or 21 will receive funds under the programs de- 22 scribed in subsection (b) to provide broad- 23 band service in the area; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1294 RS (B) if a covered agency designates any in- 1 formation provided to another covered agency 2 under subparagraph (A) as confidential, the 3 other covered agency shall protect the confiden- 4 tiality of that information; 5 (3) designate the Federal Communications 6 Commission as the entity primarily responsible for— 7 (A) coordinating among the covered agen- 8 cies; and 9 (B) storing or maintaining access to all 10 broadband deployment data; 11 (4) consider basing the distribution of funds for 12 broadband deployment under the programs described 13 in subsection (b) on standardized data regarding 14 broadband coverage; and 15 (5) provide that the interagency agreement 16 shall be updated periodically, except that the scope 17 of the agreement with respect to the Federal Com- 18 munications Commission may not expand beyond the 19 high-cost programs. 20 (d) ASSESSMENT OF AGREEMENT.— 21 (1) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 1 year 22 after entering into the interagency agreement re- 23 quired under subsection (b), the Federal Commu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1294 RS nications Commission shall seek public comment 1 on— 2 (A) the effectiveness of the interagency 3 agreement in facilitating efficient use of funds 4 for broadband deployment; 5 (B) the availability of Tribal, State, and 6 local data regarding broadband deployment and 7 the inclusion of that data in interagency coordi- 8 nation; and 9 (C) modifications to the interagency agree- 10 ment that would improve the efficacy of inter- 11 agency coordination. 12 (2) ASSESSMENT; REPORT.—Not later than 18 13 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 14 Federal Communications Commission shall— 15 (A) review and assess the comments re- 16 ceived under paragraph (1); and 17 (B) submit to the Committee on Com- 18 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen- 19 ate and the Committee on Energy and Com- 20 merce of the House of Representatives a report 21 detailing any findings and recommendations 22 from the assessment conducted under subpara- 23 graph (A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 311 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1294 [Report No. 116–162] A BILL To require Federal agencies with jurisdiction over broadband deployment to enter into an inter- agency agreement related to certain types of funding for broadband deployment. NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S1294.RS S1294 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS