Broadband for All Resolution of 2020

IV 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. 1144 Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all Americans. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 Ms. HAALAND (for herself and Mr. KHANNA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all Americans. Whereas, in 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution affirming that the same rights people have offline must be protected online and called for coun- tries to promote and facilitate access to the internet to develop knowledgeable societies with the realization of the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the right to edu- cation; Whereas the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the freedom of speech and expression for all persons, and the Supreme Court has ruled that speech and expression on the internet is included in such protections; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 1144 IH Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published the National Broadband Plan in 2010 to bring broadband to all Americans but, as of 2020, 22.3 percent of Americans living in rural areas lacked access to fixed broadband services, compared to only 1.5 percent of Americans living in urban areas; Whereas digital divides contribute to and exacerbate poverty and inequality in modern society by prohibiting equal ac- cess to public services, employment opportunities, edu- cational resources, basic liberties, and fundamental rights guaranteed to all Americans; Whereas, in April 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services found that more than 1 in 6 people with incomes below the Federal poverty level had no access to the internet, and 18 percent of people with incomes below 100 percent of the Federal poverty level lacked internet access, compared to only 3 percent of people with in- comes at or above 400 percent of the Federal poverty level; Whereas, in 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that only 65 percent of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians living on Tribal lands had access to fixed broadband services, and only 69 percent of households on Tribal lands have telephone services; Whereas the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) estimates that up to 95 percent of students attending BIE facilities lack residential internet services during the COVID–19 pandemic; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 1144 IH Whereas the GAO has further found that FCC data has over- stated statistics relating to broadband availability and digital access on Tribal lands in the United States; Whereas the 2017 statistics of the National Center for Edu- cation Statistics in the Department of Education showed that 34.1 percent of all higher education students engage in some form of online education courses, a 5.7-percent increase in enrollment in online higher education from the previous year; Whereas the percentage of students enrolled in online edu- cation courses significantly increased during the pan- demic and educational administrators have made remote and online learning for the 2020–2021 academic year available to avoid public health risks; Whereas increased access to broadband promotes economic competition, entrepreneurship, and efficiency; Whereas the World Bank found that every 10 percent in- crease in fixed broadband penetration accelerates eco- nomic growth by 1.21 percent in developed economies and 1.38 percent in developing economies; Whereas counties with higher rates of broadband availability have lower unemployment rates, and broadband helps service industry businesses overcome geographic barriers that have traditionally hampered rural growth; Whereas the American Medical Informatics Association and other public health experts have called access to wireless broadband services a social determinant of health; Whereas data from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census shows that approximately 5,000,000 households with school-age children do not have high-speed internet access at home, with a dis- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 1144 IH proportionate share being low-income African-American or Hispanic/Latino households, and low-income house- holds are 4 times more likely than middle- or high-income households to lack broadband access; Whereas the United States is a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls on countries to take appropriate measures to promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and com- munication technology and systems, which can only be achieved through continued access to communication technologies; and Whereas intentional disruptions of internet access have been used in countries across the globe to crack down on human rights, limit communication, and harm freedom of association: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, 1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband for 3 All Resolution of 2020’’. 4 SEC. 2. RECOGNIZING BROADBAND AS A HUMAN AND CIVIL 5 RIGHT FOR ALL AMERICANS. 6 The House of Representatives— 7 (1) recognizes that equal access to affordable 8 and reliable fixed broadband services for all Ameri- 9 cans is a civil and human right that protects and 10 promotes the fair, equal, and impartial treatment of 11 all people regardless of race, sex, nationality, eth- 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 1144 IH nicity, language, religion, economic status, or any 1 other status; 2 (2) asserts that affordable access to broadband 3 enables the promotion and propagation of human 4 rights, including equal access to information, govern- 5 ment services, use of public facilities, freedom from 6 discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of 7 peaceful assembly and association, and the right to 8 education; 9 (3) recognizes that affordable access to 10 broadband promotes equal access for engagement in 11 our democracy and the exercise of constitutionally 12 vested rights; 13 (4) reaffirms the global and open nature of the 14 internet as a driving force in accelerating progress 15 toward development in its various forms, including 16 achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 17 United Nations; 18 (5) acknowledges that the human right to af- 19 fordable access to broadband may only be limited or 20 restricted if such restriction is provided for by law 21 and is nondiscriminatory, necessary, and propor- 22 tionate to a legitimate purpose, such as to protect 23 the rights of others, national security, or to protect 24 public order or health; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 1144 IH (6) calls on the President— 1 (A) to preserve and build upon the techno- 2 logical leadership of the Federal Government 3 and Federal funding opportunities for all Amer- 4 icans to affordable access to fixed broadband 5 services and infrastructure development to 6 bridge the digital divide, especially for low-in- 7 come households and households with incomes 8 below the Federal poverty line; 9 (B) to preserve and build upon the techno- 10 logical leadership of the Federal Government 11 and Federal funding opportunities for fixed 12 broadband expansion and infrastructure devel- 13 opment, especially in rural areas and on Tribal 14 lands, and in broadband deserts; 15 (C) to ensure that Tribal sovereignty over 16 access to electromagnetic spectrum on Tribal 17 lands is protected as part of the Federal trust 18 responsibility in furtherance of Tribal self-gov- 19 ernance; and 20 (D) to further address the threat posed by 21 lack of affordable access to broadband to the 22 civil and human rights of all Americans, espe- 23 cially since the COVID–19 pandemic has fur- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 1144 IH ther highlighted the growing digital divide in 1 the United States. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS