Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2692 To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the inclusion of broadband conduit installation in certain highway construction projects, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2019 Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Mr. MCKINLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the inclusion of broadband conduit installation in certain highway construction projects, 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 Conduit 4 Deployment Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2692 IH SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF BROADBAND CONDUIT INSTALLA- 1 TION IN CERTAIN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION 2 PROJECTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 23, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘§ 331. Inclusion of broadband conduit installation in 7 certain highway construction projects 8 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 10 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec- 11 retary shall issue a notification and requirement to 12 States that each State is required to evaluate the 13 need for broadband conduit in accordance with this 14 section as part of any covered highway construction 15 project. 16 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—The evaluation shall be 17 done in consultation with local and national tele- 18 communications providers, including telecommuni- 19 cations service and equipment providers. 20 ‘‘(3) RESULTS OF EVALUATION.—If the evalua- 21 tion reveals an anticipated need in the next 15 years 22 for broadband conduit beneath hard surfaces to be 23 constructed by the project, the conduit shall be in- 24 stalled under the hard surfaces as part of the cov- 25 ered highway construction project. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2692 IH ‘‘(4) DATE OF COMPLETION.—A State shall 1 complete the evaluation described in paragraph (1) 2 not later than 180 days after the date on which the 3 Secretary issues the notification described in para- 4 graph (1) to such State. 5 ‘‘(b) INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 6 out subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure with respect 7 to a covered highway construction project that— 8 ‘‘(1) an appropriate number of broadband con- 9 duits, as determined by the Assistant Secretary of 10 Commerce for Communications and Information, are 11 installed along such highway to accommodate mul- 12 tiple broadband providers, with consideration given 13 to the availability of existing conduits; 14 ‘‘(2) the size of each such conduit is consistent 15 with industry best practices and is sufficient to ac- 16 commodate potential demand, as determined by the 17 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communica- 18 tions and Information; and 19 ‘‘(3) hand holes and manholes for fiber access 20 and pulling with respect to each such conduit are 21 placed at intervals consistent with industry best 22 practices, as determined by the Assistant Secretary 23 of Commerce for Communications and Information. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2692 IH ‘‘(c) STANDARDS.—Not later than 90 days after the 1 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, in con- 2 sultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 3 Communications and Information, shall establish stand- 4 ards, consistent with applicable requirements in section 5 156 of this title, section 1.23, part 645, and part 710 of 6 title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, and the Approved 7 Utility Accommodation Manual, to carry out subsection 8 (b) that consider— 9 ‘‘(1) the ability to accommodate broadband in- 10 stallation without impacting the safety, operations, 11 and maintenance of the highway facility, its users, 12 or others; 13 ‘‘(2) population density in the area of a covered 14 highway construction project; 15 ‘‘(3) the type of highway involved in such 16 project; and 17 ‘‘(4) existing broadband access in the area of 18 such project. 19 ‘‘(d) PULL TAPE.—Not later than 90 days after the 20 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall en- 21 sure that each broadband conduit installed pursuant to 22 this section includes a pull tape and is capable of sup- 23 porting fiber optic cable placement techniques consistent 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2692 IH with industry best practices, as determined by the Sec- 1 retary. 2 ‘‘(e) DEPTH OF INSTALLATION.—The Secretary shall 3 ensure that each broadband conduit installed pursuant to 4 this section is placed at a depth consistent with industry 5 best practices, as determined by the Secretary, and that, 6 in determining the depth of placement, consideration is 7 given to the location of existing utilities and the cable sep- 8 aration requirements of State and local electrical codes. 9 ‘‘(f) ACCESS.—The Secretary shall ensure that any 10 requesting broadband provider has access to each 11 broadband conduit installed pursuant to this section, on 12 a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis, for 13 a charge not to exceed a cost-based rate. 14 ‘‘(g) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 15 waive the application of this section if the Secretary deter- 16 mines that the waiver is appropriate with respect to a cov- 17 ered highway construction project based upon— 18 ‘‘(1) a showing of undue burden; 19 ‘‘(2) a determination that the installation of 20 broadband conduit beneath hard surfaces to be con- 21 structed as part of a covered highway construction 22 project is not necessary based on the availability of 23 existing broadband infrastructure; 24 ‘‘(3) a cost-benefit analysis; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2692 IH ‘‘(4) the consideration of other relevant factors. 1 ‘‘(h) COORDINATION WITH FCC.—In carrying out 2 this section, the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of 3 Commerce for Communications and Information shall co- 4 ordinate with the Federal Communications Commission, 5 including in making determinations with respect to an ap- 6 propriate number of broadband conduits under subsection 7 (b)(1), potential demand under subsection (b)(2), and ex- 8 isting broadband access under subsection (c). 9 ‘‘(i) PUBLICATION OF CONDUIT AVAILABILITY.—Not 10 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sec- 11 tion, the Secretary shall provide information to the Fed- 12 eral Communications Commission and the Assistant Sec- 13 retary of Commerce for Communications and Information 14 for inclusion within the National Broadband Map. 15 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 16 definitions apply: 17 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND.—The term ‘broadband’ 18 means an Internet Protocol-based transmission serv- 19 ice that enables users to send and receive voice, 20 video, data, graphics, or a combination thereof. 21 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND CONDUIT.—The term 22 ‘broadband conduit’ means a conduit for fiber optic 23 cables that support broadband or, where appro- 24 priate, wireless facilities for broadband service. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2692 IH ‘‘(3) COVERED HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION 1 PROJECT.—The term ‘covered highway construction 2 project’ means a project to construct a new highway 3 or to construct an additional lane or paved shoulder 4 for an existing highway that is commenced after the 5 date of enactment of this section and that receives 6 funding under this title. 7 ‘‘(4) HARD SURFACES.—The term ‘hard sur- 8 faces’ means asphalt and concrete pavement, curb 9 and gutter, and sidewalk.’’. 10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 11 ter 3 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by add- 12 ing at the end the following: 13 ‘‘331. Inclusion of broadband conduit installation in certain highway construc- tion projects.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2692.IH H2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS