Emergency Broadband Connections Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6881 To provide a benefit for broadband service during emergency periods relating to COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2020 Mr. VEASEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To provide a benefit for broadband service 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Broadband 4 Connections Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. BENEFIT FOR BROADBAND SERVICE DURING EMER- 6 GENCY PERIODS RELATING 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 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6881 IH this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations im- 1 plementing this section. 2 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations promulgated 3 pursuant to subsection (a) shall establish the following: 4 (1) EMERGENCY BROADBAND BENEFIT.—Dur- 5 ing an emergency period, a provider shall provide an 6 eligible household with an internet service offering, 7 upon request by a member of such household. Such 8 provider shall discount the price charged to such 9 household for such internet service offering in an 10 amount equal to the emergency broadband benefit 11 for such household. 12 (2) VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—To verify 13 whether a household is an eligible household, a pro- 14 vider shall either— 15 (A) use the National Lifeline Eligibility 16 Verifier; or 17 (B) rely upon an alternative verification 18 process of the provider, if the Commission finds 19 such process to be sufficient to avoid waste, 20 fraud, and abuse. 21 (3) USE OF NATIONAL LIFELINE ELIGIBILITY 22 VERIFIER.—The Commission shall— 23 (A) expedite the ability of all providers to 24 access the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6881 IH for purposes of determining whether a house- 1 hold is an eligible household; and 2 (B) ensure that the National Lifeline Eligi- 3 bility Verifier approves an eligible household to 4 receive the emergency broadband benefit not 5 later than two days after the date of the sub- 6 mission of information necessary to determine if 7 such household is an eligible household. 8 (4) EXTENSION OF EMERGENCY PERIOD.—An 9 emergency period may be extended within a State or 10 any portion thereof if the State, or in the case of 11 Tribal land, a Tribal government, provides written, 12 public notice to the Commission stipulating that an 13 extension is necessary in furtherance of the recovery 14 related to COVID–19. The Commission shall, within 15 48 hours after receiving such notice, post the notice 16 on the public website of the Commission. 17 (5) REIMBURSEMENT.—From the Emergency 18 Broadband Connectivity Fund established in sub- 19 section (h), the Commission shall reimburse a pro- 20 vider in an amount equal to the emergency 21 broadband benefit with respect to an eligible house- 22 hold that receives such benefit from such provider. 23 (6) REIMBURSEMENT FOR CONNECTED DE- 24 VICE.—A provider that, in addition to providing the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6881 IH emergency broadband benefit to an eligible house- 1 hold, supplies such household with a connected de- 2 vice may be reimbursed up to $100 from the Emer- 3 gency Broadband Connectivity Fund established in 4 subsection (h) for such connected device, if the 5 charge to such eligible household is more than $10 6 but less than $50 for such connected device, except 7 that a provider may receive reimbursement for no 8 more than one connected device per eligible house- 9 hold. 10 (7) NO RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT.—A 11 provider may not receive a reimbursement from the 12 Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund for pro- 13 viding an internet service offering discounted by the 14 emergency broadband benefit, or for supplying a 15 connected device, that was provided or supplied (as 16 the case may be) before the date of the enactment 17 of this Act. 18 (8) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—To receive a 19 reimbursement under paragraph (5) or (6), a pro- 20 vider shall certify to the Commission the following: 21 (A) That the amount for which the pro- 22 vider is seeking reimbursement from the Emer- 23 gency Broadband Connectivity Fund for an 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6881 IH internet service offering to an eligible household 1 is not more than the normal rate. 2 (B) That each eligible household for which 3 a provider is seeking reimbursement for pro- 4 viding an internet service offering discounted by 5 the emergency broadband benefit— 6 (i) has not been and will not be 7 charged— 8 (I) for such offering, if the nor- 9 mal rate for such offering is less than 10 or equal to the amount of the emer- 11 gency broadband benefit for such 12 household; or 13 (II) more for such offering than 14 the difference between the normal rate 15 for such offering and the amount of 16 the emergency broadband benefit for 17 such household; 18 (ii) will not be required to pay an 19 early termination fee if such eligible house- 20 hold elects to enter into a contract to re- 21 ceive such internet service offering if such 22 household later terminates such contract; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6881 IH (iii) was not subject to a mandatory 1 waiting period for such internet service of- 2 fering based on having previously received 3 broadband internet access service from 4 such provider. 5 (C) A description of the process used by 6 the provider to verify that a household is an eli- 7 gible household, if the provider elects an alter- 8 native verification process under paragraph 9 (2)(B), and that such verification process was 10 designed to avoid waste, fraud, and abuse. 11 (9) AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission 12 shall adopt audit requirements to ensure that pro- 13 viders are in compliance with the requirements of 14 this section and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse 15 in the emergency broadband benefit program estab- 16 lished under this section. 17 (c) ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS.—Notwithstanding sub- 18 section (e) of this section, the Commission shall provide 19 a reimbursement to a provider under this section without 20 requiring such provider to be designated as an eligible tele- 21 communications carrier under section 214(e) of the Com- 22 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)). 23 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 24 tion shall affect the collection, distribution, or administra- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6881 IH tion of the Lifeline Assistance Program governed by the 1 rules set forth in subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code 2 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 3 (e) PART 54 REGULATIONS.—Nothing in this section 4 shall be construed to prevent the Commission from pro- 5 viding that the regulations in part 54 of title 47, Code 6 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation), shall 7 apply in whole or in part to support provided under the 8 regulations required by subsection (a), shall not apply in 9 whole or in part to such support, or shall be modified in 10 whole or in part for purposes of application to such sup- 11 port. 12 (f) ENFORCEMENT.—A violation of this section or a 13 regulation promulgated under this section, including the 14 knowing or reckless denial of an internet service offering 15 discounted by the emergency broadband benefit to an eligi- 16 ble household that requests such an offering, shall be 17 treated as a violation of the Communications Act of 1934 18 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or a regulation promulgated under 19 such Act. The Commission shall enforce this section and 20 the regulations promulgated under this section in the same 21 manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdic- 22 tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and 23 provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 were incor- 24 porated into and made a part of this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6881 IH (g) EXEMPTIONS.— 1 (1) NOTICE AND COMMENT RULEMAKING RE- 2 QUIREMENTS.—Section 553 of title 5, United States 3 Code, shall not apply to a regulation promulgated 4 under subsection (a) or a rulemaking to promulgate 5 such a regulation. 6 (2) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT REQUIRE- 7 MENTS.—A collection of information conducted or 8 sponsored under the regulations required by sub- 9 section (a) shall not constitute a collection of infor- 10 mation for the purposes of subchapter I of chapter 11 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly re- 12 ferred to as the Paperwork Reduction Act). 13 (h) EMERGENCY BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY 14 FUND.— 15 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 16 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 17 known as the Emergency Broadband Connectivity 18 Fund. 19 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 20 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Emer- 21 gency Broadband Connectivity Fund $8,800,000,000 22 for fiscal year 2020, to remain available through fis- 23 cal year 2021. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6881 IH (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Emer- 1 gency Broadband Connectivity Fund shall be avail- 2 able to the Commission for reimbursements to pro- 3 viders under the regulations required by subsection 4 (a). 5 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 6 CONTRIBUTIONS.—Reimbursements provided under 7 the regulations required by subsection (a) shall be 8 provided from amounts made available under this 9 subsection and not from contributions under section 10 254(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 11 U.S.C. 254(d)), except the Commission may use 12 such contributions if needed to offset expenses asso- 13 ciated with the reliance on the National Lifeline Eli- 14 gibility Verifier to determine eligibility of households 15 to receive the emergency broadband benefit. 16 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 17 (1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 18 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ has 19 the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b) of 20 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 21 cessor regulation). 22 (2) CONNECTED DEVICE.—The term ‘‘con- 23 nected device’’ means a laptop or desktop computer 24 or a tablet. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6881 IH (3) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘eligible 1 household’’ means, regardless of whether the house- 2 hold or any member of the household receives sup- 3 port under subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code 4 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation), 5 and regardless of whether any member of the house- 6 hold has any past or present arrearages with a pro- 7 vider, a household in which— 8 (A) at least one member of the household 9 meets the qualifications in subsection (a) or (b) 10 of section 54.409 of title 47, Code of Federal 11 Regulations (or any successor regulation); 12 (B) at least one member of the household 13 has applied for and been approved to receive 14 benefits under the free and reduced price lunch 15 program under the Richard B. Russell National 16 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or 17 the school breakfast program under section 4 of 18 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 19 1773); or 20 (C) at least one member of the household 21 has experienced a substantial loss of income 22 since February 29, 2020, documented by layoff 23 or furlough notice, application for unemploy- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6881 IH ment insurance benefits, or similar documenta- 1 tion. 2 (4) EMERGENCY BROADBAND BENEFIT.—The 3 term ‘‘emergency broadband benefit’’ means a 4 monthly discount for an eligible household applied to 5 the normal rate for an internet service offering, in 6 an amount equal to such rate, but not more than 7 $50, or, if an internet service offering is provided to 8 an eligible household on Tribal land, not more than 9 $75. 10 (5) EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The term ‘‘emer- 11 gency period’’ means a period that— 12 (A) begins on the date of a determination 13 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 14 pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health 15 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) that a public 16 health emergency exists as a result of COVID– 17 19; and 18 (B) ends on the date that is 6 months 19 after the date on which such determination (in- 20 cluding any renewal thereof) terminates, except 21 as such period may be extended under sub- 22 section (b)(4). 23 (6) INTERNET SERVICE OFFERING.—The term 24 ‘‘internet service offering’’ means, with respect to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6881.IH H6881 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6881 IH provider, broadband internet access service provided 1 by such provider to a household, offered in the same 2 manner, and on the same terms, as described in any 3 of such provider’s advertisements for broadband 4 internet access service to such household, as on May 5 1, 2020. 6 (7) NORMAL RATE.—The term ‘‘normal rate’’ 7 means, with respect to an internet service offering 8 by a provider, the advertised monthly retail rate, as 9 of May 1, 2020, including any applicable promotions 10 and excluding any taxes or other governmental fees. 11 (8) PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘provider’’ means a 12 provider of broadband internet access service. 13 SEC. 3. ENHANCED LIFELINE BENEFITS DURING EMER- 14 GENCY PERIODS. 15 (a) ENHANCED MINIMUM SER [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]