A bill to direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and for other purposes.

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4201 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 2, 2020 Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions to accelerate the Rural Digital Oppor- tunity Fund Phase I auction, 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. ACCELERATION OF RURAL DIGITAL OPPOR- 3 TUNITY FUND PHASE I AUCTION. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 6 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ has 7 the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4201 IS 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 1 regulation). 2 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 3 means the Federal Communications Commission. 4 (3) COVERED REPORT AND ORDER.—The term 5 ‘‘covered report and order’’ means the Report and 6 Order in the matter of Rural Digital Opportunity 7 Fund and Connect America Fund adopted by the 8 Commission on January 30, 2020 (FCC 20–5). 9 (4) GIGABIT BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS 10 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘gigabit broadband internet ac- 11 cess service’’ means broadband internet access serv- 12 ice with a downstream speed of not less than 1 gig- 13 abit per second. 14 (5) PHASE I AUCTION; PHASE II AUCTION.— 15 The terms ‘‘Phase I auction’’ and ‘‘Phase II auc- 16 tion’’ mean the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 17 Phase I auction and the Rural Digital Opportunity 18 Fund Phase II auction, respectively, provided for in 19 the covered Report and Order. 20 (6) PHASE I SUPPORT; PHASE II SUPPORT.— 21 The terms ‘‘Phase I support’’ and ‘‘Phase II sup- 22 port’’ mean support awarded under the Phase I auc- 23 tion or Phase II auction, respectively. 24 (b) MODIFICATION OF AUCTION FRAMEWORK.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4201 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall mod- 1 ify the framework for the Phase I auction adopted 2 in the covered report and order in accordance with 3 this subsection. 4 (2) LONG-FORM APPLICATIONS.—Before the 5 Phase I auction, during a period beginning not ear- 6 lier than the date that is 30 days after the date on 7 which the Commission begins accepting short-form 8 applications and ending on September 15, 2020, the 9 Commission shall accept long-form applications from 10 applicants that are willing to commit to the schedule 11 described in paragraph (4)(C) for deployment of net- 12 works capable of providing gigabit broadband inter- 13 net access service. 14 (3) AREAS WITH ONLY ONE WILLING AND 15 QUALIFIED APPLICANT.—If the long-form applica- 16 tions accepted under paragraph (2) indicate that, for 17 any census block or census block group that, as of 18 July 31, 2020, was identified on the List of Eligible 19 Areas maintained by the Commission, there is only 20 1 qualified applicant willing to commit to provide 21 gigabit broadband internet access service in accord- 22 ance with the schedule described in paragraph 23 (4)(C), the Commission shall, not later than the ear- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4201 IS lier of October 15, 2020, or 14 days before the start 1 of the Phase I auction— 2 (A) award to the applicant Phase I support 3 for that census block or census block group, at 4 100 percent of the reserve price (in this para- 5 graph referred to as the ‘‘award’’); 6 (B) remove the census block or census 7 block group from the Phase I auction; and 8 (C) reduce the budget for— 9 (i) the Phase I auction by 50 percent 10 of the amount of the award; and 11 (ii) the Phase II auction by 50 per- 12 cent of the amount of the award. 13 (4) REQUIRED DEMONSTRATIONS AND COMMIT- 14 MENT.—The Commission shall require an applicant 15 that submits a long-form application under para- 16 graph (2), in order for the application to be consid- 17 ered complete— 18 (A) to demonstrate project readiness by 19 providing a network design for a fiber optic 20 cable or hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable net- 21 work (which may include other technology used 22 in conjunction with the foregoing solely on an 23 ancillary basis) to be deployed to provide gig- 24 abit broadband internet access service to loca- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4201 IS tions in each census block or census block 1 group covered by the application, except that an 2 applicant that has offered gigabit broadband 3 internet access service (despite consumer equip- 4 ment limitations) for not less than 2 years be- 5 fore the date on which the application is sub- 6 mitted shall be presumed to have demonstrated 7 project readiness; 8 (B) to demonstrate financial stability by 9 providing a letter of commitment from a bank 10 or other documentation to establish that suffi- 11 cient credit would be available to the applicant 12 if the applicant becomes a winning bidder and 13 is awarded support; and 14 (C) to commit to— 15 (i) begin construction not later than 16 180 days after the date on which the Com- 17 mission authorizes funding for the appli- 18 cant; and 19 (ii) begin to make gigabit broadband 20 internet access service available in not less 21 than 1 awarded census block not later than 22 1 year after the date on which the Com- 23 mission authorizes funding for the appli- 24 cant. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4201 IS (5) OPPORTUNITY TO CURE DEFICIENCIES.—A 1 recipient of an award of support under paragraph 2 (3)(A) shall have a reasonable opportunity, of not 3 less than 90 days after the date on which the award 4 of support is made, to cure any deficiencies in a 5 long-form application submitted under paragraph 6 (2). 7 (6) REVOCATION OF AWARD.— 8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 9 graph (B), if a recipient of an award of support 10 under paragraph (3)(A) for a census block or 11 census block group fails to meet the deployment 12 schedule to which the recipient committed 13 under paragraph (4)(C), the Commission shall 14 revoke the award of support and include that 15 census block or census block group for competi- 16 tive bidding in the Phase II auction. 17 (B) EXTENSION.—The Commission may 18 extend the deployment schedule to which a re- 19 cipient committed under paragraph (4)(C) for 20 good cause, due to extenuating circumstances 21 outside the control of the recipient, if the Com- 22 mission finds that the recipient is making good 23 faith efforts to overcome those circumstances. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4201 IS (7) ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER 1 DESIGNATION NOT REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding 2 any other provision of law, the Commission shall not 3 require any short-form or long-form applicant to be 4 designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier 5 under section 214(e) of the Communications Act of 6 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)) in order to receive Phase 7 I support or Phase II support. 8 SEC. 2. ENSURING THE FCC CREATES ACCURATE SERVICE 9 MAPS. 10 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Title 11 VIII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 641 12 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘SEC. 807. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Com- 15 mission to carry out this title— 16 ‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 17 ‘‘(2) $9,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 18 through 2027.’’. 19 (b) DEADLINE FOR CREATION OF MAPS.—Section 20 802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 21 642(c)(1)) is amended, in the matter preceding subpara- 22 graph (A), by striking ‘‘create’’ and inserting ‘‘create, not 23 later than October 1, 2020’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4201.IS S4201 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS