Office of Rural Telecommunications Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2601 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish the Office of Rural Telecommunications, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2019 Mr. PETERSON (for himself and Mr. CARTER of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to estab- lish the Office of Rural Telecommunications, 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 ‘‘Office of Rural Tele- 4 communications Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 months after 7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 8 shall establish an Office of Rural Telecommunications. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2601.IH H2601 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2601 IH (b) DUTIES.—The Office shall have the following du- 1 ties: 2 (1) Coordinate efforts with the Rural Utilities 3 Service of the Department of Agriculture and the 4 National Telecommunications and Information Ad- 5 ministration to ensure the mutual and complemen- 6 tary success of the Commission’s initiatives and the 7 programs overseen by these other agencies. 8 (2) Coordinate with the Universal Service Ad- 9 ministrative Company to maintain updated informa- 10 tion regarding Connect America Fund programs 11 that deploy rural broadband. 12 (3) Coordinate with other agencies to remove 13 barriers to broadband deployment. 14 (4) Assess and publish the impact of the actions 15 of the Commission on rural consumers before the ac- 16 tions are voted upon or taken. 17 (5) Measure broadband adoption rates in rural 18 areas. 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) Not less frequently than annually, report to 24 Congress on the efforts of the Office to promote and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2601.IH H2601 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2601 IH sustain quality and affordable rural communications, 1 including voice and broadband. 2 (8) Dedicate a representative to address stake- 3 holder questions and concerns. 4 (c) NO ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 5 Nothing in this section shall create any additional report- 6 ing requirement for a broadband provider. 7 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 9 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 10 United States Code. 11 (2) BROADBAND.—The term ‘‘broadband’’ 12 means— 13 (A) a mass-market retail service by wire or 14 radio that provides the capability to transmit 15 data to and receive data from all or substan- 16 tially all internet endpoints, including any capa- 17 bilities that are incidental to and enable the op- 18 eration of the communications service, but ex- 19 cluding dial-up internet access service; and 20 (B) any service that the Commission finds 21 to be providing a functional equivalent of the 22 service described in subparagraph (A). 23 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 24 means the Federal Communications Commission. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2601.IH H2601 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2601 IH (4) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of- 1 fice of Rural Telecommunications established pursu- 2 ant to subsection (a). 3 (5) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 4 means any area other than— 5 (A) a city, town, or incorporated area that 6 has a population of more than 20,000 inhab- 7 itants; or 8 (B) an urbanized area contiguous and ad- 9 jacent to a city or town that has a population 10 of more than 50,000 inhabitants. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2601.IH H2601 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS