I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6474 To provide for the expansion of the Rural Health Care Program of the Federal Communications Commission in response to COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 10, 2020 Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To provide for the expansion of the Rural Health Care Program of the Federal Communications Commission in response to COVID–19, 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 ‘‘Healthcare Broadband 4 Expansion During COVID-19 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF RURAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM OF 6 FCC IN RESPONSE TO COVID–19. 7 (a) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 8 Not later than 7 days after the date of the enactment of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6474 IH this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations 1 modifying the requirements in subpart G of part 54 of 2 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, in the following 3 manner: 4 (1) A health care provider not located in a rural 5 area shall be treated as a rural health care provider 6 for the purposes of the Healthcare Connect Fund 7 Program. 8 (2) The discount rate for an eligible expense 9 through the Healthcare Connect Fund Program (as 10 described in section 54.611(a) of title 47, Code of 11 Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation) 12 shall be increased to 85 percent in funding years 13 2019, 2020, and 2021 for eligible equipment pur- 14 chased or eligible services rendered in such funding 15 years (including for eligible equipment, upfront pay- 16 ments, and multi-year commitments without limita- 17 tion). 18 (3) A temporary, mobile, or satellite health care 19 delivery site shall be treated as a health care pro- 20 vider or an eligible site of a health care provider for 21 purposes of determining eligibility for the Healthcare 22 Connect Fund Program or the Telecommunications 23 Program. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6474 IH (4) The waiver of the application window speci- 1 fied in section 54.621(a) of title 47, Code of Federal 2 Regulations (or any successor regulation), for fund- 3 ing year 2019. 4 (5) The adoption and implementation of a roll- 5 ing application process to allow a health care pro- 6 vider to apply for funding. 7 (6) The following changes to certain bidding re- 8 quirements: 9 (A) A waiver of any requirement under 10 section 54.622 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 11 ulations (or any successor regulation), for a 12 health care provider upgrading an existing sup- 13 ported service at a particular location, effective 14 as of the date of declaration of the public health 15 emergency pursuant to section 319 of the Pub- 16 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) as a 17 result of confirmed cases of COVID–19, if the 18 health care provider maintains the same eligible 19 service provider to provide the upgraded service 20 at such location. 21 (B) Reduction of the 28-day waiting period 22 described in section 54.622(g) of title 47, Code 23 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 24 lation), to a 14-day waiting period. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6474 IH (C) Modification of the requirements in 1 section 54.622 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 2 ulations (or any successor regulation), to— 3 (i) provide that bid evaluation criteria 4 may give additional consideration to the 5 speed with which an eligible service pro- 6 vider can initiate service; and 7 (ii) encourage applicants to consider 8 bids from different providers to provide 9 service to different locations of such appli- 10 cants, if considering bids in this manner 11 would expedite the overall timeline for ini- 12 tiating or expanding service to individual 13 locations. 14 (7) Issuance of a decision on each application 15 for funding not later than 60 days after the date on 16 which the application is filed. 17 (8) Release of funding not later than 30 days 18 after the date on which an invoice is submitted with 19 respect to an application that is approved, applicable 20 services have been provided, and required invoices 21 have been submitted as required under program 22 rules. 23 (b) ADDITIONAL CHANGES TO RURAL HEALTH CARE 24 PROGRAM.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6474 IH (1) RELEASE OF FUNDING FOR OUTSTANDING 1 FUNDING REQUESTS.—The Commission shall release 2 funding for all requests (outstanding as of the date 3 of the enactment of this Act) for funding under the 4 Rural Health Care Program not later than 30 days 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, except 6 that for funding requests subject to a review of the 7 applicable rural rate, the Commission shall release 8 interim funding not later than 30 days after the 9 date of the enactment of this Act based on the most 10 recent approved rural rate for a similar service, sub- 11 ject to a true-up following the completion of such re- 12 view. This paragraph shall not be construed to re- 13 quire the Commission to release funding for a re- 14 quest if the Commission is, on the date of enactment 15 of this Act, investigating potential waste, fraud, or 16 abuse allegations with respect to a specific applicant 17 or service provider to which such request relates. 18 (2) DELAY OF IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE.— 19 The Commission shall— 20 (A) delay by one year the implementation 21 of sections 54.604 and 54.605 of title 47, Code 22 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 23 lation), as adopted in the Report and Order in 24 the matter of Promoting Telehealth in Rural 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6474 IH America (FCC 19–78) that was adopted by the 1 Commission on August 1, 2019; and 2 (B) delay application of the new definition 3 of ‘‘similar services’’ as described in paragraphs 4 14 to 20 of such Report and Order until the 5 implementation of such sections. 6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The regu- 7 lations required under subsection (a) shall take effect on 8 the date on which such regulations are promulgated. 9 (d) TERMINATION OF REGULATIONS.—Except to the 10 extent that the Commission determines that some or all 11 of the regulations promulgated under subsection (a) 12 should remain in effect (excluding any regulation promul- 13 gated under paragraph (1) of such subsection), such regu- 14 lations shall terminate on the later of— 15 (1) the earlier of— 16 (A) the date that is 60 days after the ter- 17 mination of the declaration, or any renewal 18 thereof, of the public health emergency pursu- 19 ant to section 319 of the Public Health Service 20 Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) as a result of confirmed 21 cases of COVID–19; and 22 (B) the date of the expiration of the appro- 23 priation in subsection (f)(2); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6474 IH (2) the date that is 9 months after the date of 1 the enactment of this Act. 2 (e) EXEMPTIONS.— 3 (1) NOTICE AND COMMENT RULEMAKING RE- 4 QUIREMENTS.—Section 553 of title 5, United States 5 Code, shall not apply to a regulation promulgated 6 under subsection (a) or a rulemaking to promulgate 7 such a regulation. 8 (2) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT REQUIRE- 9 MENTS.—A collection of information conducted or 10 sponsored under the regulations required by sub- 11 section (a), or under section 254 of the Communica- 12 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) in connection 13 with universal service support provided under such 14 regulations, shall not constitute a collection of infor- 15 mation for the purposes of subchapter I of chapter 16 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly re- 17 ferred to as the Paperwork Reduction Act). 18 (f) EMERGENCY RURAL HEALTH CARE 19 CONNECTIVITY FUND.— 20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 21 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 22 known as the Emergency Rural Health Care Con- 23 nectivity Fund. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6474 IH (2) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to 1 the Emergency Rural Health Care Connectivity 2 Fund, out of any money in the Treasury not other- 3 wise appropriated, $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, 4 to remain available through fiscal year 2022. 5 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Emer- 6 gency Rural Health Care Connectivity Fund shall be 7 available to the Commission to carry out the Rural 8 Health Care Program, as modified by the regula- 9 tions promulgated under subsection (a). 10 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 11 CONTRIBUTIONS.—Support provided under the regu- 12 lations required by paragraphs (1) through (3) of 13 subsection (a) shall be provided from amounts made 14 available under paragraph (3) of this subsection and 15 not from contributions under section 254(d) of the 16 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 17 Such support shall be in addition to, and not in re- 18 placement of, funds authorized by the Commission 19 for the Rural Health Care Program as of the date 20 of the enactment of this Act from contributions 21 under section 254(d) of the Communications Act of 22 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6474 IH (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 1 means the Federal Communications Commission. 2 (2) ELIGIBLE EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 3 equipment’’ means the equipment described in sec- 4 tion 54.613 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 5 (or any successor regulation). 6 (3) ELIGIBLE SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 7 ‘‘eligible service provider’’ means a provider de- 8 scribed in section 54.608 of title 47, Code of Federal 9 Regulations (or any successor regulation). 10 (4) FUNDING YEAR.—The term ‘‘funding year’’ 11 has the meaning given such term in section 12 54.600(a) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 13 (or any successor regulation). 14 (5) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term 15 ‘‘health care provider’’ has the meaning given such 16 term in section 54.600(b) of title 47, Code of Fed- 17 eral Regulations (or any successor regulation). 18 (6) HEALTHCARE CONNECT FUND PROGRAM.— 19 The term ‘‘Healthcare Connect Fund Program’’ has 20 the meaning given such term in section 54.602(b) of 21 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 22 cessor regulation). 23 (7) MULTI-YEAR COMMITMENTS.—The term 24 ‘‘multi-year commitments’’ means the commitments 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6474 IH described in section 54.620(c) of title 47, Code of 1 Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 2 (8) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 3 the meaning given such term in section 54.600(e) of 4 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 5 cessor regulation). 6 (9) RURAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM.—The 7 term ‘‘Rural Health Care Program’’ means the pro- 8 gram described in subpart G of part 54 of title 47, 9 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 10 lation). 11 (10) RURAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The 12 term ‘‘rural health care provider’’ has the meaning 13 given such term in section 54.600(f) of title 47, 14 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 15 lation). 16 (11) TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM.—The 17 term ‘‘Telecommunications Program’’ has the mean- 18 ing given such term in section 54.602(a) of title 47, 19 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 20 lation). 21 (12) UPFRONT PAYMENTS.—The term ‘‘upfront 22 payments’’ means the payments described in section 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6474 IH 54.616 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or 1 any successor regulation). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6474.IH H6474 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS