Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7302 To make high-speed broadband internet service accessible and affordable to all Americans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 24, 2020 Mr. CLYBURN (for himself, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Penn- sylvania, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BRINDISI, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. COX of California, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DELGADO, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. FINKENAUER, Mr. GOLDEN, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KIND, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MENG, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Mr. TRONE, Ms. UNDERWOOD, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To make high-speed broadband internet service accessible and affordable to all Americans, 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 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7302 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act’’. 3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4 this Act is as follows: 5 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. Sec. 4. Severability. TITLE I—DIGITAL EQUITY Sec. 1000. Definitions. Subtitle A—Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth Sec. 1101. Establishment of the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth. Sec. 1102. Duties. Sec. 1103. Streamlined applications for support. Sec. 1104. Coordination of support. Sec. 1105. Rule of construction. Sec. 1106. Funding. Subtitle B—Digital Equity Programs Sec. 1201. State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program. Sec. 1202. Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. Sec. 1203. Policy research, data collection, analysis and modeling, evaluation, and dissemination. Sec. 1204. General provisions. Subtitle C—Broadband Service for Low-Income Consumers Sec. 1301. Additional broadband benefit. Sec. 1302. Grants to States to strengthen National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier. Sec. 1303. Federal coordination between Lifeline and SNAP verification. Subtitle D—E-Rate Support for Wi-Fi Hotspots, Other Equipment, and Connected Devices Sec. 1401. E-rate support for Wi-Fi hotspots, other equipment, and connected devices. TITLE II—BROADBAND TRANSPARENCY Sec. 2001. Definitions. Sec. 2002. Broadband transparency. Sec. 2003. Distribution of data. Sec. 2004. Coordination with certain other Federal agencies. Sec. 2005. Broadband consumer labels. Sec. 2006. Appropriation for Broadband DATA Act. TITLE III—BROADBAND ACCESS VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7302 IH Subtitle A—Expansion of Broadband Access Sec. 3101. Expansion of broadband access in unserved areas and areas with low-tier or mid-tier service. Subtitle B—Broadband Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Sec. 3201. Definitions. Sec. 3202. Determination of eligibility and project selection. Sec. 3203. Secured loans. Sec. 3204. Lines of credit. Sec. 3205. Alternative prudential lending standards for small projects. Sec. 3206. Program administration. Sec. 3207. State and local permits. Sec. 3208. Regulations. Sec. 3209. Funding. Sec. 3210. Reports to Congress. Subtitle C—Wi-Fi on School Buses Sec. 3301. E-rate support for school bus Wi-Fi. TITLE IV—COMMUNITY BROADBAND Sec. 4001. State, local, public-private partnership, and co-op broadband serv- ices. TITLE V—BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT Sec. 5001. Broadband infrastructure deployment. TITLE VI—REPEAL OF RULE AND PROHIBITION ON USE OF NPRM Sec. 6001. Repeal of rule and prohibition on use of NPRM. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AGING INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘aging indi- 3 vidual’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘older indi- 4 vidual’’ in section 102 of the Older Americans Act 5 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002). 6 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 7 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 8 gress’’ means— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7302 IH (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the Senate; 2 (B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 3 and Transportation of the Senate; 4 (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 5 the House of Representatives; and 6 (D) the Committee on Energy and Com- 7 merce of the House of Representatives. 8 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 9 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 10 Commerce for Communications and Information. 11 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 12 means the Federal Communications Commission. 13 (5) COVERED HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘covered 14 household’’ means a household the income of which 15 does not exceed 150 percent of the poverty thresh- 16 old, as determined by using criteria of poverty estab- 17 lished by the Bureau of the Census, for a household 18 of the size involved. 19 (6) COVERED POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov- 20 ered populations’’ means— 21 (A) individuals who are members of cov- 22 ered households; 23 (B) aging individuals; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7302 IH (C) incarcerated individuals, other than in- 1 dividuals who are incarcerated in a Federal cor- 2 rectional facility (including a private facility op- 3 erated under contract with the Federal Govern- 4 ment); 5 (D) veterans; 6 (E) individuals with disabilities; 7 (F) individuals with a language barrier, in- 8 cluding individuals who— 9 (i) are English learners; or 10 (ii) have low levels of literacy; 11 (G) individuals who are members of a ra- 12 cial or ethnic minority group; and 13 (H) individuals who primarily reside in a 14 rural area. 15 (7) DIGITAL LITERACY.—The term ‘‘digital lit- 16 eracy’’ means the skills associated with using tech- 17 nology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, 18 create, and communicate information. 19 (8) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 20 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Ameri- 21 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 22 12102). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7302 IH (9) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 1 agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘agency’’ 2 in section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 3 (10) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 4 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 5 section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and 6 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 7 (11) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 8 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’— 9 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- 10 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 11 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 12 (B) includes a postsecondary vocational in- 13 stitution. 14 (12) POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL INSTITU- 15 TION.—The term ‘‘postsecondary vocational institu- 16 tion’’ has the meaning given the term in section 17 102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 18 U.S.C. 1002(c)). 19 (13) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 20 the meaning given the term in section 13 of the 21 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 913). 22 (14) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 23 ing given the term in section 3 of the Communica- 24 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7302 IH (15) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 2 United States Code. 3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 5 (1) a broadband service connection and digital 6 literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals— 7 (A) participate in the society, economy, 8 and civic institutions of the United States; and 9 (B) access healthcare and essential serv- 10 ices, obtain education, and build careers; 11 (2) digital exclusion— 12 (A) carries a high societal and economic 13 cost; 14 (B) materially harms the opportunity of an 15 individual with respect to the economic success, 16 educational achievement, positive health out- 17 comes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of 18 that individual; 19 (C) materially harms the opportunity of 20 areas where it is especially widespread with re- 21 spect to economic success, educational achieve- 22 ment, positive health outcomes, social cohesion, 23 and civic institutions; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7302 IH (D) exacerbates existing wealth and income 1 gaps, especially those experienced by covered 2 populations and between regions; 3 (3) achieving accessible and affordable access to 4 broadband service, as well as digital literacy, for all 5 people of the United States requires additional and 6 sustained research efforts and investment; 7 (4) the Federal Government, as well as State, 8 Tribal, and local governments, have made social, 9 legal, and economic obligations that necessarily ex- 10 tend to how the citizens and residents of those gov- 11 ernments access and use the internet; and 12 (5) achieving accessible and affordable access to 13 broadband service is a matter of social and economic 14 justice and is worth pursuing. 15 (b) BROADBAND SERVICE DEFINED.—In this sec- 16 tion, the term ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given 17 the term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 18 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 19 successor regulation. 20 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 21 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 22 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend- 23 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, 24 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7302 IH this Act, and the application of such provision or amend- 1 ment to any other person or circumstance, shall not be 2 affected thereby. 3 TITLE I—DIGITAL EQUITY 4 SEC. 1000. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this title: 6 (1) ADOPTION OF BROADBAND SERVICE.—The 7 term ‘‘adoption of broadband service’’ means the 8 process by which an individual obtains daily access 9 to broadband service— 10 (A) with a download speed of at least 25 11 megabits per second, an upload speed of at 12 least 3 megabits per second, and a latency that 13 is sufficiently low to allow real-time, interactive 14 applications; 15 (B) with the digital skills that are nec- 16 essary for the individual to participate online; 17 and 18 (C) on a— 19 (i) personal device; and 20 (ii) secure and convenient network. 21 (2) ANCHOR INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘anchor 22 institution’’ means a public or private school, a li- 23 brary, a medical or healthcare provider, a museum, 24 a public safety entity, a public housing agency, a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7302 IH community college, an institution of higher edu- 1 cation, a religious organization, or any other com- 2 munity support organization or agency. 3 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—Except in section 4 1101, the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the As- 5 sistant Secretary, acting through the Office. 6 (4) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 7 ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given the term 8 ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 8.1(b) 9 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 10 cessor regulation. 11 (5) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘covered 12 programs’’ means the State Digital Equity Capacity 13 Grant Program established under section 1201 and 14 the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program es- 15 tablished under section 1202. 16 (6) DIGITAL EQUITY.—The term ‘‘digital eq- 17 uity’’ means the condition in which individuals and 18 communities have the information technology capac- 19 ity that is needed for full participation in the society 20 and economy of the United States. 21 (7) DIGITAL INCLUSION ACTIVITIES.—The term 22 ‘‘digital inclusion activities’’— 23 (A) means the activities that are necessary 24 to ensure that all individuals in the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7302 IH States have access to, and the use of, affordable 1 information and communication technologies, 2 such as— 3 (i) reliable broadband service; 4 (ii) internet-enabled devices that meet 5 the needs of the user; and 6 (iii) applications and online content 7 designed to enable and encourage self-suf- 8 ficiency, participation, and collaboration; 9 and 10 (B) includes— 11 (i) the provision of digital literacy 12 training; 13 (ii) the provision of quality technical 14 support; and 15 (iii) promoting basic awareness of 16 measures to ensure online privacy and cy- 17 bersecurity. 18 (8) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 19 State’’ means— 20 (A) with respect to planning grants made 21 available under section 1201(c)(3), a State with 22 respect to which the Assistant Secretary has 23 approved an application submitted to the As- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:34 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7302.IH H7302 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 7302 IH sistant Secretary under section 1201(c)(3)(C); 1 and 2 (B) with respect to capacity grants award- 3 ed under section 1201(d), a State with respect 4 to which the Assistant Secretary has approved 5 an application submitted to the Assistant Sec- 6 retary under section 1201(d)(2), including ap- 7 proval of the State Digital Equity Plan devel- 8 oped b [Text truncated for display. 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