E-BRIDGE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6491 To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to provide for a high-speed broadband deployment initiative. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 14, 2020 Mr. GRAVES of Missouri (for himself and Mr. KATKO) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, 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 concerned A BILL To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to provide for a high-speed broadband de- ployment initiative. 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 ‘‘Eliminating Barriers 4 to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility Act’’ or 5 the ‘‘E-BRIDGE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:08 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6491.IH H6491 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6491 IH SEC. 2. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIA- 1 TIVE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Public Works and 3 Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141 et 4 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 219. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIA- 6 TIVE. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.— 8 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND PROJECT.—The term ‘broad- 9 band project’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) planning, technical assistance, or 11 training; 12 ‘‘(B) the acquisition or development of 13 land; or 14 ‘‘(C) the acquisition, design and engineer- 15 ing, construction, rehabilitation, alteration, ex- 16 pansion, or improvement of facilities, including 17 related machinery, equipment, contractual 18 rights, and intangible property, for the purpose 19 of providing, extending, expanding, or improv- 20 ing high-speed broadband service to further the 21 goals of this Act. 22 ‘‘(2) HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND.—The term 23 ‘high-speed broadband’ means the provision of two- 24 way data transmission with sufficient downstream 25 and upstream speeds to end users to permit effective 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:08 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6491.IH H6491 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6491 IH participation in the economy and to support eco- 1 nomic growth, as determined by the Secretary. 2 ‘‘(b) BROADBAND PROJECTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On the application of an el- 4 igible recipient, the Secretary may make grants 5 under this title for broadband projects. Any such 6 grant shall be subject to the provisions of this sec- 7 tion. 8 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS FOR BROADBAND 9 PROJECTS.— 10 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In the case of grants 11 for broadband projects, the term ‘eligible recipi- 12 ent’ includes, in addition to the eligible recipi- 13 ents identified in section 3— 14 ‘‘(i) a public-private partnership; and 15 ‘‘(ii) a consortium formed for the pur- 16 pose of providing, extending, expanding, or 17 improving high-speed broadband service 18 between one or more eligible recipients, as 19 defined in section 3, and one or more for- 20 profit organizations. 21 ‘‘(B) INTEREST IN REAL OR PERSONAL 22 PROPERTY.—For any broadband project of a 23 public-private partnership or consortium, the 24 Secretary shall require that title to any real or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:08 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6491.IH H6491 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6491 IH personal property acquired or improved with 1 grant funds, or if the recipient will not acquire 2 title another possessory interest acceptable to 3 the Secretary, be vested in a public partner or 4 eligible nonprofit organization or association for 5 the useful life of the project, after which title 6 may be transferred to any member of the pub- 7 lic-private partnership or consortium in accord- 8 ance with regulations promulgated by the Sec- 9 retary. 10 ‘‘(3) PROCUREMENT.—Notwithstanding any 11 other provision of law, no person or entity shall be 12 disqualified from competing to provide goods or serv- 13 ices related to a broadband project on the basis that 14 the person or entity participated in the development 15 of the broadband project or in the drafting of speci- 16 fications, requirements, statements of work, or simi- 17 lar documents related to the goods or services to be 18 provided. 19 ‘‘(4) BROADBAND PROJECT PROPERTY.—The 20 Secretary may permit a recipient of a grant for a 21 broadband project to grant an option to acquire real 22 or personal property (including contractual rights 23 and intangible property) related to that project to a 24 third party on such terms as the Secretary deter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:08 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6491.IH H6491 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6491 IH mines to be appropriate, provided that such option 1 may only be exercised after the Secretary releases 2 the Federal interest in the property. The grant or 3 exercise of any such option shall not constitute a re- 4 distribution of grant funds within the meaning of 5 section 217 of this title. 6 ‘‘(c) SOURCES OF ASSISTANCE.—A grant provided 7 under this section may be provided from amounts made 8 available to carry out this title in combination with 9 amounts made available under any other Federal program. 10 ‘‘(d) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—In determining the 11 amount of the non-Federal share of the cost of a 12 broadband project, the Secretary may provide credit to- 13 ward the non-Federal share for the present value of allow- 14 able contributions over the useful life of the broadband 15 project, provided that the Secretary may require such as- 16 surances of the value of the rights and of the commitment 17 of the rights as the Secretary determines to be appro- 18 priate.’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 20 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 21 the item relating to section 218 the following new item: 22 ‘‘Sec. 219. High-speed broadband deployment initiative.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6491.IH H6491 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS