National Broadband Plan for the Future Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4022 To require the Federal Communications Commission to update the national broadband plan, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 22, 2020 Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Federal Communications Commission to update the national broadband plan, 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 ‘‘National Broadband 4 Plan for the Future Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. UPDATE TO NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 8 gress’’ means— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4022 IS (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 1 and Transportation of the Senate; and 2 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com- 3 merce of the House of Representatives; 4 (2) the term ‘‘broadband internet access serv- 5 ice’’ has the meaning given the term in section 8.1 6 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 7 cessor regulation; 8 (3) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 9 Communications Commission; 10 (4) the term ‘‘E-Rate program’’ means the pro- 11 gram set forth under subpart F of part 54 of title 12 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 13 regulations; and 14 (5) the term ‘‘national broadband plan’’ means 15 the plan required to be submitted by the Commis- 16 sion to the appropriate committees of Congress 17 under section 6001(k) of the American Recovery and 18 Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 1305(k)). 19 (b) UPDATE.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than July 1, 2021, 21 and subject to paragraph (3), the Commission shall 22 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 23 final report containing an update to the national 24 broadband plan. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4022 IS (2) CONTENTS.—The update to the national 1 broadband plan required under paragraph (1) 2 shall— 3 (A) assess the progress of the United 4 States in achieving the goals of the original na- 5 tional broadband plan during the 10-year period 6 preceding the date of enactment of this Act; 7 (B) reassess the areas of focus contained 8 within the original national broadband plan, in- 9 cluding through— 10 (i) an analysis of the most effective 11 and efficient mechanisms for ensuring ac- 12 cess to broadband internet access service 13 by all people of the United States; 14 (ii) a detailed strategy for achieving— 15 (I) affordability of broadband 16 internet access service; and 17 (II) maximum utilization of 18 broadband internet access service, and 19 the infrastructure with respect to that 20 service, by the public; 21 (iii) an evaluation of the status of de- 22 ployment of broadband internet access 23 service, including the progress of projects 24 supported by the grants made pursuant to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4022 IS section 6001 of the American Recovery 1 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 2 1305); and 3 (iv) a plan for use of broadband inter- 4 net access service, and the infrastructure 5 with respect to that service, in advancing 6 consumer welfare, civic participation, pub- 7 lic safety and homeland security, commu- 8 nity development, health care delivery, en- 9 ergy independence and efficiency, edu- 10 cation, worker training, private sector in- 11 vestment, entrepreneurial activity, job cre- 12 ation and economic growth, and other na- 13 tional purposes; 14 (C) examine the effects of the COVID–19 15 pandemic on how the people of the United 16 States— 17 (i) learn, including— 18 (I) an analysis of the nature and 19 extent of gaps between students who 20 have access to broadband internet ac- 21 cess service at home and students who 22 do not have that access; and 23 (II) an identification of specific 24 ways to close the gaps described in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4022 IS subclause (I), including through the 1 E-Rate program; 2 (ii) work, including by developing de- 3 tailed proposals that could make working 4 from home more practical for workers and 5 more productive for employers; 6 (iii) receive medical information and 7 treatment, including by— 8 (I) reviewing the adequacy and 9 effectiveness of telemedicine programs 10 implemented at the Federal and State 11 levels; and 12 (II) developing proposals for how 13 the programs described in subclause 14 (I) could be improved or expanded; 15 and 16 (iv) participate in civic communica- 17 tions, including by analyzing the effects 18 that the COVID–19 pandemic and the in- 19 frastructure with respect to broadband 20 internet access service in the United States 21 have had on— 22 (I) free expression and non-com- 23 mercial speakers in the United States; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4022 IS (II) the availability of credible 1 news and information, including pub- 2 lic health information, with respect to 3 that pandemic; 4 (D) analyze the level of reliance that the 5 people of the United States will have on services 6 enabled by broadband internet access service— 7 (i) before comprehensive testing with 8 respect to COVID–19 is implemented and 9 a vaccine with respect to that disease is de- 10 veloped; and 11 (ii) after the COVID–19 pandemic 12 has ended; and 13 (E) develop— 14 (i) short-term proposals to address the 15 reliance described in subparagraph (D); 16 and 17 (ii) a long-term plan to address any 18 systemic privacy and security challenges 19 associated with the use of services de- 20 scribed in subparagraph (D). 21 (3) FINAL REPORT.—Until July 1, 2021, the 22 appropriate committees of Congress shall accept 23 from the Commission an updated version of a report 24 previously submitted by the Commission under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4022 IS graph (1), without regard to whether the Commis- 1 sion had— 2 (A) labeled the previously submitted 3 version of the report as the final report; or 4 (B) otherwise indicated that the previously 5 submitted version was the final version of the 6 report. 7 (4) SUBSEQUENT ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later 8 than 1 year after the date on which the Commission 9 submits the final report of the Commission required 10 under this subsection, as determined in accordance 11 with paragraph (3), and annually thereafter, the 12 Commission shall submit to the appropriate commit- 13 tees of Congress a report on the progress of the 14 Commission in achieving the goals of the national 15 broadband plan, as updated under this subsection. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4022.IS S4022 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS