Universal Broadband Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6723 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the eligibility of broadband internet access services for Federal universal service support, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2020 Mr. PETERSON (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. COX of Cali- fornia, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. LUCAS, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CASE, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, and Mr. CORREA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the eligibility of broadband internet access services for Fed- eral universal service support, 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 ‘‘Universal Broadband 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT FOR BROADBAND 6 INTERNET ACCESS SERVICES. 7 (a) CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR SUPPORT.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6723 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 254(c) of the Com- 1 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(c)) is 2 amended by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(4) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV- 4 ICES.—In addition to the services included in the 5 definition of universal service under paragraph (1), 6 the Commission shall designate broadband internet 7 access services as services that are supported by 8 Federal universal service support mechanisms. In 9 designating services under this paragraph, the Com- 10 mission shall ensure that the services designated are 11 sufficient for the purposes for which consumers use 12 broadband internet access services, as such purposes 13 evolve over time.’’. 14 (2) OBLIGATIONS OF ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNI- 15 CATIONS CARRIERS.—Section 214(e)(1)(A) of the 16 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 17 214(e)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘all of’’ after 18 ‘‘offer’’. 19 (b) CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE.— 20 (1) PROVIDERS OF BROADBAND INTERNET AC- 21 CESS SERVICES REQUIRED TO CONTRIBUTE.—Sec- 22 tion 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 23 U.S.C. 254) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6723 IH (A) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting ‘‘and 1 all providers of broadband internet access serv- 2 ices’’ after ‘‘telecommunications services’’; and 3 (B) in subsection (d)— 4 (i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘TELE- 5 COMMUNICATIONS CARRIER’’; 6 (ii) in the first sentence, by inserting 7 ‘‘and every provider of broadband internet 8 access services’’ after ‘‘telecommunications 9 services’’; and 10 (iii) in the second sentence— 11 (I) by inserting ‘‘, or provider or 12 class of providers,’’ after ‘‘carriers’’; 13 and 14 (II) by inserting ‘‘or provider’s’’ 15 after ‘‘carrier’s’’ each place it appears. 16 (2) ADDITIONAL MATTERS RELATING TO UNI- 17 VERSAL SERVICE CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 254(d) 18 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 19 254(d)) is amended— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘Every telecommunications 21 carrier’’ and inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Every telecommunications 23 carrier’’; and 24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6723 IH ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION FROM CONTRIBUTION BASE OF 1 SERVICES PROVIDED TO LIFELINE CONSUMERS.—In 2 determining the amount that a telecommunications 3 carrier or provider of a broadband internet access 4 service is required to contribute under this sub- 5 section, the Commission shall exclude from the de- 6 termination any services provided by such carrier or 7 provider to consumers who receive services through 8 the Lifeline program of the Commission. 9 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION OF ANTICIPATED FUND- 10 ING NEEDS.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In determining the 12 amount of contributions required under this 13 subsection, the Commission shall consider fore- 14 casts of anticipated demand for services that 15 are supported by each of the Federal universal 16 service support mechanisms over periods that 17 are sufficiently long to allow for adequate plan- 18 ning, thereby ensuring sufficient and predict- 19 able funding for each such mechanism. 20 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION ON CONTRIBUTION 21 LIMIT.—The Commission may not establish any 22 limit on the total amount of contributions re- 23 quired under this subsection with respect to all 24 Federal universal service support mechanisms, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6723 IH except for establishing the amount that pro- 1 viders are required to contribute with respect to 2 a particular time period based on the projected 3 demand for services that are supported by Fed- 4 eral universal service support mechanisms over 5 such time period.’’. 6 (c) ACCESS IN TRIBAL AREAS.—Section 254(b)(3) of 7 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(b)(3)) 8 is amended— 9 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘ACCESS IN 10 RURAL AND HIGH COST AREAS’’ and inserting ‘‘AC- 11 CESS IN ALL REGIONS’’; and 12 (2) by inserting ‘‘Tribal,’’ after ‘‘insular,’’. 13 (d) PROHIBITION ON EXPENDITURE LIMIT.—Section 14 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) 15 is amended by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(m) PROHIBITION ON EXPENDITURE LIMIT.—The 17 Commission may not establish any limit on the total 18 amount of funds that may be expended through all Fed- 19 eral universal service support mechanisms. Nothing in the 20 preceding sentence shall be construed to prohibit the Com- 21 mission from ensuring that funds expended through the 22 Federal universal service support mechanisms are ex- 23 pended for services eligible for support through such 24 mechanisms.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6723 IH (e) CONSULTATION AMONG FCC, NTIA, AND 1 USDA.—The Federal Communications Commission, the 2 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 3 Information, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall, in ad- 4 ministering Federal financial assistance for the deploy- 5 ment of broadband services, consult with one another re- 6 garding the distribution of such assistance for the deploy- 7 ment of broadband services in rural areas. 8 (f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 254 of the 9 Communications Act of 1934, as amended by subsection 10 (d), is further amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(n) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 12 180 days after the end of each calendar year, the Commis- 13 sion shall submit to Congress a report that contains the 14 following: 15 ‘‘(1) A statement of the total amount expended 16 in such year to support broadband internet access 17 services through the Federal universal service sup- 18 port mechanisms for high-cost areas. 19 ‘‘(2) A statement of the amount, of the total 20 amount stated under paragraph (1), expended in 21 each of the following: 22 ‘‘(A) Rural areas. 23 ‘‘(B) Insular areas. 24 ‘‘(C) Tribal areas. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6723 IH ‘‘(D) Areas that, as of the beginning of 1 such year, were unserved areas, as determined 2 by the Commission. 3 ‘‘(3) A description of progress during such year 4 in advancing the universal service principles de- 5 scribed in subsection (b) and the requirements for 6 meeting future growth in the demand for the serv- 7 ices that are supported by Federal universal service 8 support mechanisms, including challenges that may 9 prevent the advancement of such principles.’’. 10 (g) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE DE- 11 FINED.—Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934, 12 as amended by subsections (d) and (f), is further amended 13 by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(o) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE DE- 15 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘broadband internet ac- 16 cess service’— 17 ‘‘(1) means a mass-market retail service by wire 18 or radio that provides the capability to transmit data 19 to and receive data from all or substantially all 20 internet endpoints, including any capabilities that 21 are incidental to and enable the operation of the 22 communications service, but excluding dial-up inter- 23 net access service; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6723 IH ‘‘(2) includes any service that the Commission 1 finds to be providing a functional equivalent of the 2 service described in paragraph (1).’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6723.IH H6723 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS