Internet Exchange Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3869 To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to make grants for the establishment or expansion of inter- net exchange facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 22, 2019 Mr. LONG (for himself, Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. MAR- SHALL, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. COMER, and Mr. STIVERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information to make grants for the estab- lishment or expansion of internet exchange facilities, 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 ‘‘Internet Exchange Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3869.IH H3869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3869 IH (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 1 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 2 Commerce for Communications and Information. 3 (2) CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA.—The 4 term ‘‘core based statistical area’’ has the meaning 5 given the term by the Office of Management and 6 Budget in the Notice of Decision entitled ‘‘2010 7 Standards for Delineating Metropolitan and 8 Micropolitan Statistical Areas’’, published in the 9 Federal Register on June 28, 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 10 37246), or any successor to that Notice. 11 (3) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 12 grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 3(a). 13 (4) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY.—The term 14 ‘‘internet exchange facility’’ means physical infra- 15 structure through which internet service providers 16 and content delivery networks exchange internet 17 traffic between their networks. 18 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMA- 19 TION ADMINISTRATION GRANTS. 20 (a) GRANTS.—On and after the first day of the first 21 fiscal year beginning after the date on which the Assistant 22 Secretary establishes rules and timelines under subsection 23 (d), the Assistant Secretary shall award grants to entities 24 to acquire real property and necessary equipment to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3869.IH H3869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3869 IH (1) establish a new internet exchange facility in 1 a core based statistical area in which, at the time 2 the grant is awarded, there are no existing internet 3 exchange facilities; or 4 (2) expand operations at an existing internet 5 exchange facility in a core based statistical area in 6 which, at the time the grant is awarded, there is 7 only 1 internet exchange facility. 8 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity may not receive a cov- 9 ered grant unless the entity certifies to the Assistant Sec- 10 retary that the entity has sufficient interest from third 11 party entities that will use the internet exchange facility 12 to be funded by the grant once the facility is established 13 or operations are expanded, as applicable. 14 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 15 total cost of the establishment of, or expansion of oper- 16 ations at, an internet exchange facility for which a covered 17 grant is awarded may not exceed 50 percent. 18 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 19 (1) RULES AND TIMELINES.—Not later than 1 20 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the As- 21 sistant Secretary shall establish rules and timelines 22 for applications for covered grants. 23 (2) THIRD PARTY REVIEW.—To prevent fraud 24 in the covered grant program, the Assistant Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3869.IH H3869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3869 IH retary shall enter into a contract with an inde- 1 pendent third party under which the third party re- 2 views an application for a covered grant not later 3 than 60 days after the date on which the application 4 is submitted to ensure that only an entity that is eli- 5 gible for a covered grant receives a covered grant. 6 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 7 tion shall be construed to authorize the Assistant Sec- 8 retary to regulate, issue guidance for, or otherwise inter- 9 fere with the activities at an internet exchange facility. 10 (f) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No addi- 11 tional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry 12 out this section. This section shall be carried out using 13 amounts otherwise authorized. 14 SEC. 4. USE OF E-RATE AND RURAL HEALTH CARE UNI- 15 VERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT. 16 Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 17 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(m) USE OF E-RATE AND RURAL HEALTH CARE 20 SUPPORT FOR COSTS RELATING TO INTERNET EX- 21 CHANGE FACILITY CONNECTION.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 23 provision of law or regulation, including subpart F 24 or G of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3869.IH H3869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3869 IH tions (or any successor regulation), a recipient of 1 support under such subpart F or G may receive sup- 2 port under that subpart— 3 ‘‘(A) to contract with a broadband internet 4 service provider to obtain connection to an 5 internet exchange facility; or 6 ‘‘(B) for the costs of maintaining a point 7 of presence at an internet exchange facility. 8 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 9 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the 10 Commission to regulate, issue guidance for, or other- 11 wise interfere with the activities at an internet ex- 12 change facility. 13 ‘‘(3) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY DE- 14 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘internet ex- 15 change facility’ means physical infrastructure 16 through which internet service providers and content 17 delivery networks exchange internet traffic between 18 their networks.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3869.IH H3869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS