Health Care Broad­band Expansion During COVID–19 Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3838 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2020 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. PETERS, Mr. KING, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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 ‘‘Health Care Broad- 4 band Expansion During COVID–19 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3838 IS (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 the term in section 54.600(a) 12 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 13 cessor regulation. 14 (5) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term 15 ‘‘health care provider’’ has the meaning given the 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’’ 20 means the program described 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 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3838 IS 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 the 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 the term in section 54.600(f) of title 47, Code 14 of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. 15 (11) TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM.—The 16 term ‘‘Telecommunications Program’’ has the mean- 17 ing given such term in section 54.602(a) of title 47, 18 Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regu- 19 lation. 20 (12) UPFRONT PAYMENTS.—The term ‘‘upfront 21 payments’’ means the payments described in section 22 54.616 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or 23 any successor regulation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3838 IS SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF RURAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM OF 1 FCC IN RESPONSE TO COVID–19. 2 (a) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 3 Not later than 7 days after the date of enactment of this 4 Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations modi- 5 fying the requirements in subpart G of part 54 of title 6 47, Code of Federal Regulations, in the following manner: 7 (1) A health care provider not located in a rural 8 area shall be treated as a rural health care provider 9 for the purposes of the Healthcare Connect Fund 10 Program. 11 (2) The discount rate for an eligible expense 12 through the Healthcare Connect Fund Program (as 13 described in section 54.611(a) of title 47, Code of 14 Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation) 15 shall be increased to 85 percent in funding years 16 2019, 2020, and 2021 for eligible equipment pur- 17 chased or eligible services rendered in such funding 18 years, including for eligible equipment, upfront pay- 19 ments, and multi-year commitments without limita- 20 tion. 21 (3) A temporary, mobile, or satellite health care 22 delivery site shall be treated as a health care pro- 23 vider or an eligible site of a health care provider for 24 purposes of determining eligibility for the Healthcare 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3838 IS Connect Fund Program or the Telecommunications 1 Program. 2 (4) The waiver of the application window speci- 3 fied in section 54.621(a) of title 47, Code of Federal 4 Regulations, or any successor regulation, for funding 5 year 2019. 6 (5) The adoption and implementation of a roll- 7 ing application process to allow a health care pro- 8 vider to apply for funding. 9 (6) The following changes to certain bidding re- 10 quirements: 11 (A) A waiver of any requirement under 12 section 54.622 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 13 ulations, or any successor regulation, for a 14 health care provider upgrading an existing sup- 15 ported service at a particular location, effective 16 as of the date of declaration of the public health 17 emergency pursuant to section 319 of the Pub- 18 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) as a 19 result of confirmed cases of COVID–19, if the 20 health care provider maintains the same eligible 21 service provider to provide the upgraded service 22 at such location. 23 (B) Reduction of the 28-day waiting period 24 described in section 54.622(g) of title 47, Code 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3838 IS of Federal Regulations, or any successor regula- 1 tion, to a 14-day waiting period. 2 (C) Modification of the requirements in 3 section 54.622 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 4 ulations, or any successor regulation, to— 5 (i) provide that bid evaluation criteria 6 may give additional consideration to the 7 speed with which an eligible service pro- 8 vider can initiate service; and 9 (ii) encourage applicants to consider 10 bids from different providers to provide 11 service to different locations of such appli- 12 cants, if considering bids in this manner 13 would expedite the overall timeline for ini- 14 tiating or expanding service to individual 15 locations. 16 (7) Issuance of a decision on each application 17 for funding not later than 60 days after the date on 18 which the application is filed. 19 (8) Release of funding not later than 30 days 20 after the date on which an invoice is submitted with 21 respect to an application that is approved, applicable 22 services have been provided, and required invoices 23 have been submitted as required under program 24 rules. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3838 IS (b) ADDITIONAL CHANGES TO RURAL HEALTH CARE 1 PROGRAM.— 2 (1) RELEASE OF FUNDING FOR OUTSTANDING 3 FUNDING REQUESTS.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 5 ensure the release of funding for all requests 6 (outstanding as of the date of enactment of this 7 Act) under the Rural Health Care Program not 8 later than 60 days after the date of enactment 9 of this Act, except that for outstanding funding 10 requests that are subject to a review of the ap- 11 plicable urban and rural rates, the Commission 12 shall ensure the release of interim funding not 13 later than 60 days after the date of enactment 14 of this Act, disbursed at 65 percent of the fund- 15 ing request, subject to a true-up following the 16 completion of such review. 17 (B) LIMITATION.—This paragraph shall 18 not apply to any party or successor-in-interest 19 to any party to which the Commission, during 20 the period beginning on the date that is 1 year 21 before the date of enactment of this Act and 22 ending on January 31, 2020, has issued a Let- 23 ter of Inquiry, Notice of Apparent Liability, or 24 Forfeiture Order relating to the party’s partici- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3838 IS pation in the Rural Health Care Program, pur- 1 suant to section 503(b) of the Communications 2 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503(b)). 3 (C) REQUIRED REPAYMENT.—In the case 4 of an eligible service provider that receives 5 funding through the Rural Health Care Pro- 6 gram pursuant to this paragraph to which the 7 eligible service provider is not entitled, the 8 Commission shall require the eligible service 9 provider to repay such funds. 10 (2) DELAY OF IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE.— 11 The Commission shall— 12 (A) delay by 1 year the implementation of 13 sections 54.604 and 54.605 of title 47, Code of 14 Federal Regulations, or any successor regula- 15 tion, as adopted in the Report and Order in the 16 matter of Promoting Telehealth in Rural Amer- 17 ica (FCC 19–78) that was adopted by the Com- 18 mission on August 1, 2019; and 19 (B) delay application of the new definition 20 of ‘‘similar services’’ as described in paragraphs 21 14 through 20 of such Report and Order until 22 the implementation of the sections described in 23 subparagraph (A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3838 IS (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The regu- 1 lations required under subsection (a) shall take effect on 2 the date on which the regulations are promulgated. 3 (d) TERMINATION OF REGULATIONS.—Except to the 4 extent that the Commission determines that some or all 5 of the regulations promulgated under subsection (a) 6 should remain in effect (excluding any regulation promul- 7 gated under paragraph (1) of such subsection), the regula- 8 tions shall terminate on the later of— 9 (1) the earlier of— 10 (A) the date that is 60 days after the ter- 11 mination of the declaration, or any renewal 12 thereof, of the public health emergency pursu- 13 ant to section 319 of the Public Health Service 14 Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) as a result of confirmed 15 cases of COVID–19; and 16 (B) the date of the expiration of the appro- 17 priation in subsection (f)(2); and 18 (2) the date that is 9 months after the date of 19 enactment of this Act. 20 (e) EXEMPTIONS.— 21 (1) NOTICE AND COMMENT RULEMAKING RE- 22 QUIREMENTS.—Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of sec- 23 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code, shall not 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3838 IS apply to a regulation promulgated under subsection 1 (a) or a rulemaking to promulgate such a regulation. 2 (2) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT REQUIRE- 3 MENTS.—A collection of information conducted or 4 sponsored under the regulations required by sub- 5 section (a), or under section 254 of the Communica- 6 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) in connection 7 with universal service support provided under such 8 regulations, shall not constitute a collection of infor- 9 mation for the purposes of subchapter I of chapter 10 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly re- 11 ferred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’). 12 (f) EMERGENCY RURAL HEALTH CARE 13 CONNECTIVITY FUND.— 14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 15 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 16 known as the Emergency Rural Health Care 17 Connectivity Fund. 18 (2) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to 19 the Emergency Rural Health Care Connectivity 20 Fund, out of any money in the Treasury not other- 21 wise appropriated, $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 22 2020, to remain available through fiscal year 2022. 23 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Emer- 24 gency Rural Health Care Connectivity Fund shall be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3838 IS available to the Commission to carry out the Rural 1 Health Care Program, as modified by the regula- 2 tions promulgated under subsection (a). 3 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 4 CONTRIBUTIONS.—Support provided under the regu- 5 lations required by paragraphs (1) through (3) of 6 subsection (a) shall be— 7 (A) provided from amounts made available 8 under paragraph (3) of this subsection and not 9 from contributions under section 254(d) of the 10 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 11 254(d)); and 12 (B) in addition to, and not in replacement 13 of, funds authorized by the Commission for the 14 Rural Health Care Program as of the date of 15 enactment of this Act from contributions under 16 section 254(d) of the Communications Act of 17 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3838.IS S3838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS