EXTEND Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8808 To amend title VI of the Social Security Act to permit the use of payments received under the Coronavirus Relief Fund for grants for the deployment of infrastructure for the provision of broadband internet access service, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. ADERHOLT (for himself, Mr. LATTA, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. BYRNE, and Mrs. RODGERS of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title VI of the Social Security Act to permit the use of payments received under the Coronavirus Re- lief Fund for grants for the deployment of infrastructure for the provision of broadband internet access service, 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 ‘‘Enabling Extra Time 4 to Extend Network Deployment Act’’ or the ‘‘EXTEND 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8808 IH SEC. 2. USE OF CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND PAYMENTS 1 FOR GRANTS FOR DEPLOYMENT OF 2 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 601 of the Social Security 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 801) is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating subsections (e) through (g) 6 as subsections (f) through (h), respectively; 7 (2) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘subsection 8 (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (f)’’; and 9 (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(e) GRANTS FOR DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND IN- 12 FRASTRUCTURE.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of sub- 14 section (d), a grant awarded in accordance with this 15 subsection to a provider of broadband internet ac- 16 cess service for the deployment of infrastructure for 17 the provision of such service shall be treated as an 18 eligible expenditure under paragraph (1) of such 19 subsection (d) and paragraph (3) of such subsection 20 shall be applied to such an expenditure by sub- 21 stituting ‘December 31, 2021’ for ‘December 30, 22 2020’. 23 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION REGARDING MUNICIPAL 24 BROADBAND.—A State, Tribal government, or unit 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8808 IH of local government may not use funds provided 1 under a payment made under this section— 2 ‘‘(A) to provide or offer for sale broadband 3 internet access service; or 4 ‘‘(B) to purchase, lease, or otherwise ob- 5 tain facilities that are used exclusively to pro- 6 vide broadband internet access service by— 7 ‘‘(i) the State, Tribal government, or 8 unit of local government; or 9 ‘‘(ii) a third party. 10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION REGARDING OVER- 11 BUILDING.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State, Tribal gov- 13 ernment, or unit of local government may not 14 award a grant from funds provided under a 15 payment made under this section for the de- 16 ployment of infrastructure for the provision of 17 broadband internet access in an area that is not 18 an unserved area unless the State, Tribal gov- 19 ernment, or unit of local government has 20 awarded grants from such funds for the deploy- 21 ment of such infrastructure in all unserved 22 areas in the State, or in the jurisdiction of the 23 Tribal government or unit of local government, 24 as the case may be, such that no such area will 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8808 IH remain an unserved area after such deployment 1 is complete. 2 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF UNSERVED 3 AREAS.—To determine whether an area is an 4 unserved area for purposes of subparagraph 5 (A), a State, Tribal government, or unit of local 6 government shall— 7 ‘‘(i) except as provided in clause (ii), 8 use the maps created under section 9 802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 10 1934 (47 U.S.C. 642(c)(1)); and 11 ‘‘(ii) until such maps are available, 12 use the final list of eligible areas released 13 by the Commission in the matter of Rural 14 Digital Opportunity Fund (WC Docket No. 15 19–126), except that the State, Tribal gov- 16 ernment, or unit of local government shall 17 exclude any area in the State, or in the ju- 18 risdiction of the Tribal government or unit 19 of local government, as the case may be, 20 with respect to which (as of the time of the 21 determination)— 22 ‘‘(I) funding has been awarded 23 through the Rural Digital Oppor- 24 tunity Fund Phase I Auction; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8808 IH ‘‘(II) there is an enforceable com- 1 mitment by a provider of broadband 2 internet access service to provide such 3 service in the area, even if the service 4 is not yet available, unless the pro- 5 vider is not meeting any applicable 6 build-out deadlines. 7 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—A State, 8 Tribal government, or unit of local government may 9 not award a grant from funds provided under a pay- 10 ment made under this section for the deployment of 11 infrastructure for the provision of broadband inter- 12 net access service unless the State, Tribal govern- 13 ment, or unit of local government— 14 ‘‘(A) at least 90 days before awarding such 15 grant, provides public notice, and an oppor- 16 tunity for challenge that begins on the date on 17 which such public notice is provided and ends 18 on the date that is 90 days thereafter, of which 19 areas have been determined to be unserved 20 areas under paragraph (3)(B) for purposes of 21 the awarding of such grant; 22 ‘‘(B) awards such grant in a techno- 23 logically neutral manner; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8808 IH ‘‘(C) does not require a provider of 1 broadband internet access service to be des- 2 ignated as an eligible telecommunications car- 3 rier under section 214(e) of the Communica- 4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)) as a con- 5 dition of receiving grant funds; 6 ‘‘(D) does not require a provider of 7 broadband internet access service to meet any 8 requirement relating to the provision of such 9 service (including an open access or rate re- 10 quirement) as a condition of receiving grant 11 funds, except for a requirement that applies to 12 providers of broadband internet access service 13 as of the date of the enactment of this sub- 14 section; 15 ‘‘(E) prohibits a provider of broadband 16 internet access service from using grant funds 17 to repay, or make any other payment relating 18 to, a loan made by any public or private lender; 19 and 20 ‘‘(F) prohibits a provider of broadband 21 internet access service from using grant funds 22 as collateral for a loan made by any public or 23 private lender. 24 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8808 IH ‘‘(A) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS 1 SERVICE.—The term ‘broadband internet access 2 service’ has the meaning given such term in 3 section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Reg- 4 ulations (or any successor regulation). 5 ‘‘(B) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commis- 6 sion’ means the Federal Communications Com- 7 mission.’’. 8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 10 this section shall apply with respect to payments 11 made under section 601 of the Social Security Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 801) on or after March 27, 2020, includ- 13 ing with respect to a grant from funds provided 14 under such a payment for the deployment of infra- 15 structure for the provision of broadband internet ac- 16 cess service that was awarded, or the expenditure of 17 such funds for a purpose described in subsection 18 (e)(2) of such section that was incurred, by a State, 19 Tribal government, or unit of local government be- 20 fore the date of the enactment of this Act. 21 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 22 terms defined in section 601 of the Social Security 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8808 IH Act (42 U.S.C. 801) have the meanings given such 1 terms in such section. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8808.IH H8808 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS