National Broadband Plan for the Future Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7520 To require the Federal Communications Commission to update the national broadband plan, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 9, 2020 Ms. ESHOO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 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 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7520 IH (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 ‘‘COVID–19 pandemic’’ means the 11 outbreak and associated public heath, economic, and 12 other societal effects of the Coronavirus Disease 13 2019 (COVID–19) related to the emergency de- 14 clared by the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 15 ices on January 31, 2020, under section 319 of the 16 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), and 17 any renewals thereof and any subsequent declara- 18 tions by the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 19 ices related to the coronavirus; 20 (5) the term ‘‘E-Rate program’’ means the pro- 21 gram set forth under subpart F of part 54 of title 22 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 23 regulations; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7520 IH (6) the term ‘‘Lifeline’’ means the program set 1 forth under subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code 2 of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations; 3 and 4 (7) the term ‘‘national broadband plan’’ means 5 the plan required to be submitted by the Commis- 6 sion to the appropriate committees of Congress 7 under section 6001(k) of the American Recovery and 8 Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 1305(k)). 9 (b) UPDATE.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than July 1, 2021, 11 and subject to paragraph (3), the Commission shall, 12 after notice and an opportunity for public comment, 13 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 14 final report containing an update to the national 15 broadband plan. 16 (2) CONTENTS.—The update to the national 17 broadband plan required under paragraph (1) 18 shall— 19 (A) assess the progress of the United 20 States in achieving the goals of the original na- 21 tional broadband plan during the 10-year period 22 preceding the date of enactment of this Act; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7520 IH (B) reassess the areas of focus contained 1 within the original national broadband plan, in- 2 cluding through— 3 (i) an analysis of the most effective 4 and efficient mechanisms for ensuring ac- 5 cess to broadband internet access service 6 by all people of the United States; 7 (ii) a detailed strategy for achieving— 8 (I) affordability of broadband 9 internet access service (including 10 through Lifeline); and 11 (II) maximum utilization of 12 broadband internet access service, and 13 the infrastructure with respect to that 14 service, by the public; 15 (iii) an evaluation of the status of de- 16 ployment of broadband internet access 17 service, including the progress of projects 18 supported by the grants made pursuant to 19 section 6001 of the American Recovery 20 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 21 1305); and 22 (iv) a plan for use of broadband inter- 23 net access service, and the infrastructure 24 with respect to that service, in advancing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7520 IH consumer welfare, civic participation, pub- 1 lic safety and homeland security, commu- 2 nity development, health care delivery, en- 3 ergy independence and efficiency, edu- 4 cation, worker training, private sector in- 5 vestment, entrepreneurial activity, job cre- 6 ation and economic growth, and other na- 7 tional purposes; 8 (C) examine the effects of the COVID–19 9 pandemic on how the people of the United 10 States— 11 (i) learn, including— 12 (I) an analysis of the nature and 13 extent of gaps between students who 14 have access to broadband internet ac- 15 cess service at home and students who 16 do not have that access; and 17 (II) an identification of specific 18 ways to close the gaps described in 19 subclause (I), including through the 20 E-Rate program and Lifeline; 21 (ii) work, including by developing de- 22 tailed proposals that could make working 23 from home more practical for workers and 24 more productive for employers; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7520 IH (iii) receive medical information and 1 treatment, including by— 2 (I) reviewing the adequacy and 3 effectiveness of telemedicine programs 4 implemented at the Federal and State 5 levels; and 6 (II) developing proposals for how 7 the programs described in subclause 8 (I) could be improved or expanded; 9 and 10 (iv) participate in civic communica- 11 tions, including by analyzing the effects 12 that the COVID–19 pandemic and the in- 13 frastructure with respect to broadband 14 internet access service in the United States 15 have had on— 16 (I) free expression and non-com- 17 mercial speakers in the United States; 18 and 19 (II) the availability of credible 20 news and information, including pub- 21 lic health information, with respect to 22 that pandemic; 23 (D) analyze the change in reliance that the 24 people of the United States will have on services 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7520 IH enabled by broadband internet access service as 1 a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and 2 (E) develop— 3 (i) short-term proposals to address the 4 reliance described in subparagraph (D); 5 and 6 (ii) a long-term plan to address any 7 systemic privacy and security challenges 8 associated with the use of services de- 9 scribed in subparagraph (D). 10 (3) FINAL REPORT.—Until July 1, 2021, the 11 appropriate committees of Congress shall accept 12 from the Commission an updated version of a report 13 previously submitted by the Commission under para- 14 graph (1), without regard to whether the Commis- 15 sion had— 16 (A) labeled the previously submitted 17 version of the report as the final report; or 18 (B) otherwise indicated that the previously 19 submitted version was the final version of the 20 report. 21 (4) SUBSEQUENT ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later 22 than 1 year after the date on which the Commission 23 submits the final report of the Commission required 24 under this subsection, as determined in accordance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7520 IH with paragraph (3), and annually thereafter, the 1 Commission shall submit to the appropriate commit- 2 tees of Congress a report on the progress of the 3 Commission in achieving the goals of the national 4 broadband plan, as updated under this subsection. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7520.IH H7520 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS