Closing the Homework Gap Through Mobile Hotspots Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5243 To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to establish a mobile hotspot grant program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Ms. MENG (for herself, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. RYAN, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- cerned A BILL To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to establish a mobile hotspot grant program, 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 ‘‘Closing the Homework 4 Gap Through Mobile Hotspots Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5243 IH SEC. 2. MOBILE HOTSPOT GRANT PROGRAM. 1 The National Telecommunications and Information 2 Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C 901 et seq.) 3 is amended by adding after section 158 the following new 4 section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 159 MOBILE HOTSPOT GRANT PROGRAM. 6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Secretary 7 shall establish a program (to be known as the ‘Mobile 8 Hotspot Grant Program’) to provide grants to eligible in- 9 stitutions to facilitate mobile hotspot programs. 10 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Assistant Secretary 11 may provide grants to eligible institutions under the pro- 12 gram established in subsection (a). 13 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 14 provided under this section, an eligible institution shall 15 submit an application at such time, in such manner, and 16 containing such information as the Assistant Secretary 17 may require. 18 ‘‘(d) USE OF GRANTS.—A grant provided under this 19 section shall be used to facilitate a mobile hotspot program 20 that provides a hotspot device to an enrolled student, or 21 the family or guardian of such enrolled student, and such 22 hotspot device shall— 23 ‘‘(1) be portable; 24 ‘‘(2) not contain a data limitation; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5243 IH ‘‘(3) comply with the Children’s Online Privacy 1 Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.). 2 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY OF GRANTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 4 shall prioritize providing a grant to eligible institu- 5 tions that create a mobile hotspot program that will 6 provide hotspot devices to the highest number of 7 low-income students. 8 ‘‘(2) SET ASIDES.— 9 ‘‘(A) FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN 10 TRIBES.—To the extent practicable, at least 5 11 percent of the amounts appropriated to carry 12 out this section shall be used to provide grants 13 to federally recognized Indian Tribes. 14 ‘‘(B) U.S. TERRITORIES AND THE DIS- 15 TRICT OF COLUMBIA.—To the extent prac- 16 ticable, at least 5 percent of the amounts ap- 17 propriated to carry out this section shall be 18 used to provide grants to territories of the 19 United States and the District of Columbia. 20 ‘‘(f) GRANT LIMIT.—An eligible institution may not 21 receive more than 2 percent of the total sum appropriated 22 for a fiscal year to carry out this section. 23 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—The Assistant Secretary shall submit 24 to Congress a report on— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5243 IH ‘‘(1) the number of eligible institutions that re- 1 ceive a grant provided under this section; 2 ‘‘(2) the number of enrolled students that re- 3 ceive access to broadband internet access service 4 through a grant provided under this section; 5 ‘‘(3) the number of enrolled students that are 6 part of the homework gap; 7 ‘‘(4) how hotspot devices are used; and 8 ‘‘(5) the amount of data used per hotspot de- 9 vice. 10 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11 is authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each 12 fiscal year 2020 through 2025. 13 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 14 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV- 15 ICE.—The term ‘broadband internet access service’ 16 has the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b) 17 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 18 cessor regulation). 19 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; SECONDARY 20 SCHOOL.—The terms ‘elementary school’ and ‘sec- 21 ondary school’ have the meanings given such terms 22 in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5243 IH ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi- 1 ble institution’ means any of the following: 2 ‘‘(A) An elementary school. 3 ‘‘(B) A secondary school. 4 ‘‘(C) An institution of higher education. 5 ‘‘(D) A federally recognized Indian Tribe. 6 ‘‘(E) A library. 7 ‘‘(F) A library consortium. 8 ‘‘(G) A State library administrative agen- 9 cy. 10 ‘‘(4) ENROLLED STUDENT.—The term ‘enrolled 11 student’ means a student who is enrolled in an ele- 12 mentary school, a secondary school, or an institution 13 of higher education. 14 ‘‘(5) FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN 15 TRIBE.—The term ‘federally recognized Indian 16 Tribe’ has the meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ 17 in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 18 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 19 ‘‘(6) HOMEWORK GAP.—The term ‘homework 20 gap’ means unequal access to digital devices and 21 broadband internet access service that prevents an 22 enrolled student from completing homework. 23 ‘‘(7) HOTSPOT DEVICE.—The term ‘hotspot de- 24 vice’ means a portable device— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5243 IH ‘‘(A) that connects to broadband internet 1 access service using a cellular data connection; 2 ‘‘(B) to which other devices wirelessly con- 3 nect by means of Wi-Fi; and 4 ‘‘(C) that enables the devices described in 5 subparagraph (B) to connect to the broadband 6 internet access service described in subpara- 7 graph (A). 8 ‘‘(8) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 9 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 10 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High- 11 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 12 ‘‘(9) LIBRARY; LIBRARY CONSORTIUM; STATE 13 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY.—The terms ‘li- 14 brary’, ‘library consortium’, and ‘State library ad- 15 ministrative agency’ have the meanings given such 16 terms in section 213 of the Museum and Library 17 Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9122). 18 ‘‘(10) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘low- 19 income student’ has the meaning given such term in 20 section 6122 of the America COMPETES Act (20 21 U.S.C. 9832).’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5243.IH H5243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS