Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4131 To make high-speed broadband internet service accessible and affordable to all Americans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 1, 2020 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. WARNER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. WARREN, Ms. ROSEN, and Ms. CORTEZ MASTO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. Sec. 4. Severability. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4131 IS 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. Subtitle E—Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Sec. 1501. Higher education connectivity fund. Subtitle F—Healthcare Broadband Expansion Sec. 1601. Definitions. Sec. 1602. Expansion of rural health care program. 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 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4131 IS 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 (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 10 the Senate; 11 (B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 12 and Transportation of the Senate; 13 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4131 IS (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the House of Representatives; and 2 (D) the Committee on Energy and Com- 3 merce of the House of Representatives. 4 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 5 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 6 Commerce for Communications and Information. 7 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 8 means the Federal Communications Commission. 9 (5) COVERED HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘covered 10 household’’ means a household the income of which 11 does not exceed 150 percent of the poverty thresh- 12 old, as determined by using criteria of poverty estab- 13 lished by the Bureau of the Census, for a household 14 of the size involved. 15 (6) COVERED POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘cov- 16 ered populations’’ means— 17 (A) individuals who are members of cov- 18 ered households; 19 (B) aging individuals; 20 (C) incarcerated individuals, other than in- 21 dividuals who are incarcerated in a Federal cor- 22 rectional facility (including a private facility op- 23 erated under contract with the Federal Govern- 24 ment); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4131 IS (D) veterans; 1 (E) individuals with disabilities; 2 (F) individuals with a language barrier, in- 3 cluding individuals who— 4 (i) are English learners; or 5 (ii) have low levels of literacy; 6 (G) individuals who are members of a ra- 7 cial or ethnic minority group; and 8 (H) individuals who primarily reside in a 9 rural area. 10 (7) DIGITAL LITERACY.—The term ‘‘digital lit- 11 eracy’’ means the skills associated with using tech- 12 nology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, 13 create, and communicate information. 14 (8) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 15 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Ameri- 16 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 17 12102). 18 (9) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 19 agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘agency’’ 20 in section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 21 (10) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 22 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 23 section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and 24 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4131 IS (11) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 1 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’— 2 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- 3 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 4 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 5 (B) includes a postsecondary vocational in- 6 stitution. 7 (12) POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL INSTITU- 8 TION.—The term ‘‘postsecondary vocational institu- 9 tion’’ has the meaning given the term in section 10 102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 11 U.S.C. 1002(c)). 12 (13) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 13 the meaning given the term in section 13 of the 14 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 913). 15 (14) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 16 ing given the term in section 3 of the Communica- 17 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 18 (15) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 19 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 20 United States Code. 21 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 23 (1) a broadband service connection and digital 24 literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4131 IS (A) participate in the society, economy, 1 and civic institutions of the United States; and 2 (B) access health care and essential serv- 3 ices, obtain education, and build careers; 4 (2) digital exclusion— 5 (A) carries a high societal and economic 6 cost; 7 (B) materially harms the opportunity of an 8 individual with respect to the economic success, 9 educational achievement, positive health out- 10 comes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of 11 that individual; 12 (C) materially harms the opportunity of 13 areas where it is especially widespread with re- 14 spect to economic success, educational achieve- 15 ment, positive health outcomes, social cohesion, 16 and civic institutions; and 17 (D) exacerbates existing wealth and income 18 gaps, especially those experienced by covered 19 populations and between regions; 20 (3) achieving accessible and affordable access to 21 broadband service, as well as digital literacy, for all 22 people of the United States requires additional and 23 sustained research efforts and investment; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4131 IS (4) the Federal Government, as well as State, 1 Tribal, and local governments, have made social, 2 legal, and economic obligations that necessarily ex- 3 tend to how the citizens and residents of those gov- 4 ernments access and use the internet; and 5 (5) achieving accessible and affordable access to 6 broadband service is a matter of social and economic 7 justice and is worth pursuing. 8 (b) BROADBAND SERVICE DEFINED.—In this sec- 9 tion, the term ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given 10 the term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 11 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 12 successor regulation. 13 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 14 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 15 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend- 16 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, 17 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 18 this Act, and the application of such provision or amend- 19 ment to any other person or circumstance, shall not be 20 affected thereby. 21 TITLE I—DIGITAL EQUITY 22 SEC. 1000. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this title: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4131 IS (1) ADOPTION OF BROADBAND SERVICE.—The 1 term ‘‘adoption of broadband service’’ means the 2 process by which an individual obtains daily access 3 to broadband service— 4 (A) with a download speed of at least 25 5 megabits per second, an upload speed of at 6 least 3 megabits per second, and a latency that 7 is sufficiently low to allow real-time, interactive 8 applications; 9 (B) with the digital skills that are nec- 10 essary for the individual to participate online; 11 and 12 (C) on a— 13 (i) personal device; and 14 (ii) secure and convenient network. 15 (2) ANCHOR INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘anchor 16 institution’’ means a public or private school, a li- 17 brary, a medical or healthcare provider, a museum, 18 a public safety entity, a public housing agency, a 19 community college, an institution of higher edu- 20 cation, a religious organization, or any other com- 21 munity support organization or agency. 22 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—Except in section 23 1101, the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the As- 24 sistant Secretary, acting through the Office. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4131 IS (4) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 1 ‘‘broadband service’’ has the meaning given the term 2 ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ in section 8.1(b) 3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 4 cessor regulation. 5 (5) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘covered 6 programs’’ means the State Digital Equity Capacity 7 Grant Program established under section 1201 and 8 the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program es- 9 tablished under section 1202. 10 (6) DIGITAL EQUITY.—The term ‘‘digital eq- 11 uity’’ means the condition in which individuals and 12 communities have the information technology capac- 13 ity that is needed for full participation in the society 14 and economy of the United States. 15 (7) DIGITAL INCLUSION ACTIVITIES.—The term 16 ‘‘digital inclusion activities’’— 17 (A) means the activities that are necessary 18 to ensure that all individuals in the United 19 States have access to, and the use of, affordable 20 information and communication technologies, 21 such as— 22 (i) reliable broadband service; 23 (ii) internet-enabled devices that meet 24 the needs of the user; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4131 IS (iii) applications and online content 1 designed to enable and encourage self-suf- 2 ficiency, participation, and collaboration; 3 and 4 (B) includes— 5 (i) the provision of digital literacy 6 training; 7 (ii) the provision of quality technical 8 support; and 9 (iii) promoting basic awareness of 10 measures to ensure online privacy and cy- 11 bersecurity. 12 (8) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 13 State’’ means— 14 (A) with respect to planning grants made 15 available under section 1201(c)(3), a State with 16 respect to which the Assistant Secretary has 17 approved an application submitted to the As- 18 sistant Secretary under section 1201(c)(3)(C); 19 and 20 (B) with respect to capacity grants award- 21 ed under section 1201(d), a State with respect 22 to which the Assistant Secretary has approved 23 an application submitted to the Assistant Sec- 24 retary under section 1201(d)(2), including ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jul 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4131.IS S4131 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4131 IS proval of the State Digital Equity Plan devel- 1 oped by the State under section 1201(c). 2 (9) FEDERAL BROADBAND SERVICE SUPPORT 3 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Federal broadband service 4 support program’’ does not include any Universal 5 Service Fund program and means any of the fol- 6 lowing programs (or any other similar Federal pro- 7 gram) to the extent the program offers broadband 8 service or programs for promoting access to 9 broadband service and adoption of [Text truncated for display. 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