Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3690 To provide for E-Rate support for Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and connected devices during emergency periods relating to COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 12, 2020 Mr. BENNET (for Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BENNET, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. JONES, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. KING, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. REED, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. UDALL, Mr. PETERS, Mrs. MURRAY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CASEY, Mr. CARPER, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. COONS, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. WARNER, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. TESTER)) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To provide for E-Rate support for Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and connected devices during emergency periods relating 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3690 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Edu- 2 cational Connections Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. E-RATE SUPPORT FOR WI-FI HOTSPOTS, OTHER 4 EQUIPMENT, AND CONNECTED DEVICES DUR- 5 ING EMERGENCY PERIODS RELATING TO 6 COVID–19. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND IN- 9 FORMATION SERVICES.—The term ‘‘advanced tele- 10 communications and information services’’ means 11 advanced telecommunications and information serv- 12 ices, as that term is used in section 254(h) of the 13 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)). 14 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 16 (3) CONNECTED DEVICE.—The term ‘‘con- 17 nected device’’ means a laptop computer, tablet com- 18 puter, or similar device that is capable of connecting 19 to advanced telecommunications and information 20 services. 21 (4) COVERED REGULATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov- 22 ered regulations’’ means the regulations promul- 23 gated under subsection (b). 24 (5) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The 25 term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ means the pe- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3690 IS riod during which a public health emergency de- 1 clared pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health 2 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect to 3 COVID–19, including under any renewal of such 4 declaration, is in effect. 5 (6) EMERGENCY CONNECTIVITY FUND.—The 6 term ‘‘Emergency Connectivity Fund’’ means the 7 fund established under subsection (h)(1). 8 (7) ELIGIBLE EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 9 equipment’’ means the following: 10 (A) Wi-Fi hotspots. 11 (B) Modems. 12 (C) Routers. 13 (D) Devices that combine a modem and 14 router. 15 (E) Connected devices. 16 (8) LIBRARY.—The term ‘‘library’’ includes a 17 library consortium. 18 (9) WI-FI.—The term ‘‘Wi-Fi’’ means a wire- 19 less networking protocol based on Institute of Elec- 20 trical and Electronics Engineers standard 802.11 21 (or any successor standard). 22 (10) WI-FI HOTSPOT.—The term ‘‘Wi-Fi 23 hotspot’’ means a device that is capable of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3690 IS (A) receiving mobile advanced tele- 1 communications and information services; and 2 (B) sharing such services with another de- 3 vice through the use of Wi-Fi. 4 (b) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 7 5 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis- 6 sion shall promulgate regulations providing for the provi- 7 sion, from amounts made available from the Emergency 8 Connectivity Fund, of support under section 254(h)(1)(B) 9 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 10 254(h)(1)(B)) to an elementary school, secondary school, 11 or library (including a Tribal elementary school, Tribal 12 secondary school, or Tribal library) eligible for support 13 under that section, during a COVID–19 emergency period 14 (including any portion of the period occurring before the 15 date of enactment of this Act) of eligible equipment or 16 advanced telecommunications and information services, 17 for use by— 18 (1) in the case of a school, students and staff 19 of the school at locations that include locations other 20 than the school; and 21 (2) in the case of a library, patrons of the li- 22 brary at locations that include locations other than 23 the library. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3690 IS (c) ELIGIBILITY OF TRIBAL LIBRARIES.—For pur- 1 poses of determining the eligibility of a Tribal library for 2 support under the covered regulations, the portion of para- 3 graph (4) of section 254(h) of the Communications Act 4 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)) relating to eligibility for as- 5 sistance from a State library administrative agency under 6 the Library Services and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9121 7 et seq.) shall not apply. 8 (d) PRIORITIZATION OF SUPPORT.—The Commission 9 shall provide in the covered regulations for a mechanism 10 to require a school or library to prioritize the provision 11 of eligible equipment or advanced telecommunications and 12 information services (or both), for which support is re- 13 ceived under those regulations, to students and staff or 14 patrons (as the case may be) that the school or library 15 believes do not have access to eligible equipment or ad- 16 vanced telecommunications and information services (or 17 do not have access to either), respectively, at the resi- 18 dences of the students and staff or patrons. 19 (e) TREATMENT OF EQUIPMENT AFTER EMERGENCY 20 PERIOD.—The Commission shall provide in the covered 21 regulations that, in the case of a school or library that 22 purchases eligible equipment using support received under 23 the covered regulations, the school or library— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3690 IS (1) may, after the COVID–19 emergency period 1 with respect to which the support is received, use the 2 equipment for any purposes that the school or li- 3 brary considers appropriate, subject to any restric- 4 tions provided in the covered regulations (or any 5 successor regulation); and 6 (2) may not sell or otherwise transfer the equip- 7 ment in exchange for any thing (including a service) 8 of value, except that the school or library may ex- 9 change the equipment for upgraded equipment of 10 the same type. 11 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 12 tion shall be construed to affect any authority of the Com- 13 mission under section 254(h)(1)(B) of the Communica- 14 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(1)(B)) to allow sup- 15 port under that section to be used for the purposes de- 16 scribed in subsection (b) of this section other than as re- 17 quired by that subsection. 18 (g) PROCEDURAL MATTERS.— 19 (1) PART 54 REGULATIONS.—Nothing in this 20 section shall be construed to prevent the Commission 21 from providing that the regulations in part 54 of 22 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations— 23 (A) shall apply in whole or in part to sup- 24 port provided under the covered regulations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3690 IS (B) shall not apply in whole or in part to 1 support provided under the covered regulations; 2 or 3 (C) shall be modified in whole or in part 4 for purposes of application to support provided 5 under the covered regulations. 6 (2) EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN RULEMAKING 7 REQUIREMENTS.—Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of 8 section 553 of title 5, United States Code, shall not 9 apply to the covered regulations or a rulemaking to 10 promulgate the covered regulations. 11 (3) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT EXEMP- 12 TION.—A collection of information conducted or 13 sponsored under the covered regulations, or under 14 section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 15 U.S.C. 254) in connection with support provided 16 under the covered regulations, shall not constitute a 17 collection of information for the purposes of sub- 18 chapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 19 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Re- 20 duction Act’’). 21 (h) EMERGENCY CONNECTIVITY FUND.— 22 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 23 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 24 known as the ‘‘Emergency Connectivity Fund’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3690 IS (2) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to 1 the Emergency Connectivity Fund, out of any money 2 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 3 $4,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, to remain 4 available through fiscal year 2021. 5 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Emer- 6 gency Connectivity Fund shall be available to the 7 Commission to provide support under the covered 8 regulations. 9 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 10 CONTRIBUTIONS.—Support provided under the cov- 11 ered regulations shall be provided from amounts 12 made available under paragraph (3) and not from 13 contributions under section 254(d) of the Commu- 14 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3690.IS S3690 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS