Community Broadband Mapping Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 3094 To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to authorize the Adminis- trator of the Rural Utilities Service to make telecommunications grants for the collection of broadband infrastructure data by local governments, economic development or other community organizations, electric or tele- phone cooperatives, and small internet providers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 18, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to authorize the Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service to make telecommunications grants for the collection of broadband infrastructure data by local governments, eco- nomic development or other community organizations, electric or telephone cooperatives, and small internet pro- viders, 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 ‘‘Community Broadband 4 Mapping Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Dec 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3094.IS S3094 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3094 IS SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR THE COLLECTION OF RURAL 1 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE DATA. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Rural Electrifica- 3 tion Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb et seq.) is amended by 4 adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 607. GRANTS FOR THE COLLECTION OF RURAL 6 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE DATA. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) COVERED AUTHORITY.—The term ‘covered 9 authority’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) this section; 11 ‘‘(B) section 602; 12 ‘‘(C) section 603; 13 ‘‘(D) section 604; 14 ‘‘(E) section 2333 of the Food, Agri- 15 culture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 16 (7 U.S.C. 950aaa–2); and 17 ‘‘(F) section 779 of division A of the Con- 18 solidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 19 115–141; 132 Stat. 399). 20 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 21 tity’ means— 22 ‘‘(A) a unit of local government in a rural 23 area; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Dec 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3094.IS S3094 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3094 IS ‘‘(B) an economic development or other 1 community organization that serves a rural 2 area; 3 ‘‘(C) an electric cooperative (as defined in 4 section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 5 796)) that sells electric energy to persons in a 6 rural area; 7 ‘‘(D) a telephone cooperative that serves a 8 rural area; and 9 ‘‘(E) an internet service provider that— 10 ‘‘(i) has not more than 100,000 sub- 11 scribers; and 12 ‘‘(ii) serves a rural area. 13 ‘‘(3) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 14 means an area that is not in an urbanized area or 15 urban cluster the population of which is 25,000 or 16 more, as determined by the Director of the Bureau 17 of the Census. 18 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS TO CERTAIN EN- 19 TITIES TO COLLECT BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE 20 DATA.—Notwithstanding any other provision of a covered 21 authority, the Secretary may make a grant under a cov- 22 ered authority to an eligible entity for the purpose of ena- 23 bling the collection of data relating to where broadband 24 infrastructure is located and which homes are provided 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Dec 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3094.IS S3094 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3094 IS with nonsatellite broadband service, without regard to any 1 applicable household service percentage requirement.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of enact- 4 ment of this Act. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Dec 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3094.IS S3094 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS