Accelerating Broadband Connectivity Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4021 To accelerate rural broadband deployment. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 22, 2020 Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To accelerate rural broadband deployment. 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 ‘‘Accelerating 4 Broadband Connectivity Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ACCELERATING BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 8 Communications Commission; 9 (2) the terms ‘‘Phase I’’ and ‘‘Phase II’’ mean 10 Phase I and Phase II, respectively, of the Rural Dig- 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4021 IS ital Opportunity Fund auction provided for in the 1 Report and Order in the matter of Rural Digital Op- 2 portunity Fund and Connect America Fund adopted 3 by the Commission on January 30, 2020 (FCC 20– 4 5); 5 (3) the term ‘‘qualified carrier’’ means a terres- 6 trial telecommunications carrier that receives sup- 7 port from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 8 under subpart J of part 54 of title 47, Code of Fed- 9 eral Regulations, or any successor regulations; and 10 (4) the term ‘‘Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 11 support’’ means support from the Rural Digital Op- 12 portunity Fund under subpart J of part 54 of title 13 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 14 regulations. 15 (b) ACCELERATING BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY 16 FUND.—There is established in the Treasury of the 17 United States a fund to be known as the ‘‘Accelerating 18 Broadband Connectivity Fund’’. 19 (c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—The Commission may 20 use amounts in the Accelerating Broadband Connectivity 21 Fund to provide support to qualified carriers in accord- 22 ance with subsection (d). 23 (d) AMOUNT AND USE OF FUNDS.— 24 (1) IN GENERAL.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4021 IS (A) PHASE I SUPPORT RECIPIENTS.—The 1 Commission shall make one-time funding offers 2 to qualified carriers that receive Rural Digital 3 Opportunity Fund support during Phase I, and 4 that commit to meeting the conditions under 5 paragraph (2), to accelerate the broadband de- 6 ployment obligations assumed by those carriers 7 with respect to that support. 8 (B) PHASE II SUPPORT RECIPIENTS.—The 9 Commission shall use any amounts in the Accel- 10 erating Broadband Connectivity Fund that are 11 not otherwise committed under subparagraph 12 (A) to make one-time funding offers to qualified 13 carriers that receive Rural Digital Opportunity 14 Fund support during Phase II, and that com- 15 mit to meeting the conditions under paragraph 16 (2), to accelerate the broadband deployment ob- 17 ligations assumed by those carriers with respect 18 to that support. 19 (2) CONDITIONS.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—A qualified carrier that 21 receives amounts under paragraph (1) shall— 22 (i) begin construction of the 23 broadband network for which the amounts 24 are awarded not later than 180 days after 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4021 IS the date on which the award under para- 1 graph (1) is authorized; 2 (ii) begin to make broadband service 3 available from the broadband network de- 4 ployed using Rural Digital Opportunity 5 Fund support not later than 1 year after 6 the date on which the award under para- 7 graph (1) is authorized; and 8 (iii) meet all buildout obligations from 9 the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund sup- 10 port not later than 3 years after the date 11 on which the award under paragraph (1) is 12 authorized. 13 (B) FORCE MAJEURE.—The Commission 14 shall adopt rules under subsection (f)(1) to pro- 15 vide for the extension of a deadline under sub- 16 paragraph (A) of this paragraph if an event 17 outside the control of a qualified carrier pre- 18 vents the qualified carrier from meeting the 19 deadline. 20 (3) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—The amount awarded 21 to a qualified carrier under paragraph (1) shall be 22 proportional to the amount of Rural Digital Oppor- 23 tunity Fund support received by the qualified car- 24 rier. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4021 IS (e) DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED.—A qualified car- 1 rier that receives amounts under this section shall— 2 (1) maintain appropriate documentation dem- 3 onstrating the use of the amounts; and 4 (2) make the documentation described in para- 5 graph (1) available upon request as prescribed by 6 the Commission. 7 (f) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall adopt 9 rules to carry out this section as needed on an expe- 10 dited basis. 11 (2) USE OF EXISTING RULES AUTHORIZED.— 12 To the extent the Commission determines necessary 13 in the public interest, the Commission may rely on 14 the rules under part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal 15 Regulations, and funding distribution mechanisms 16 established under those rules in administering funds 17 made available under this section. 18 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT EXEMP- 19 TION.—The Commission shall adopt rules under 20 paragraph (1) without regard to the notice and com- 21 ment requirements under section 553 of title 5, 22 United States Code. 23 (4) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT EXEMP- 24 TION.—A collection of information conducted or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4021 IS sponsored under this section shall not constitute a 1 collection of information for the purposes of sub- 2 chapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 3 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Re- 4 duction Act’’). 5 (g) ENFORCEMENT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall imple- 7 ment and enforce this section as if it were a part of 8 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 9 seq.). 10 (2) UNLAWFUL FUNDING APPLICATION.— 11 (A) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for a 12 person to willfully, knowingly, or recklessly seek 13 funding under this section if doing so would 14 violate— 15 (i) this section; or 16 (ii) any rules of the Commission. 17 (B) FORFEITURES.—Any person who vio- 18 lates subparagraph (A) shall be subject to a 19 forfeiture in an amount of not more than 3 20 times the amount of funds made available to 21 the person under this section, in addition to any 22 forfeiture authorized under section 503 of the 23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4021 IS (3) AUDIT AND INQUIRY REQUIREMENTS.—The 1 Commission shall adopt requirements, through the 2 expedited rulemaking under subsection (f), to— 3 (A) ensure that a qualified carrier that re- 4 ceives amounts under this section complies with 5 the requirements of this section; and 6 (B) prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of the 7 amounts distributed under this section. 8 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9 are authorized to be appropriated to the Accelerating 10 Broadband Connectivity Fund $6,000,000,000 for pur- 11 poses of this section. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4021.IS S4021 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS