Every Child Connected Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5021 To require the Federal Communications Commission to make amendments to the E-rate program of the Commission, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 15, 2020 Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Federal Communications Commission to make amendments to the E-rate program of the Commission, 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 ‘‘Every Child Connected 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. E-RATE PROGRAM. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 8 Communications Commission; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5021.IS S5021 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5021 IS (2) the term ‘‘distance learning’’ has the mean- 1 ing given the term in section 8101 of the Elemen- 2 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 3 U.S.C. 7801); and 4 (3) the term ‘‘E-rate program’’ means the uni- 5 versal service program set forth under subpart F of 6 part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or 7 any successor regulations). 8 (b) UPDATES TO E-RATE PROGRAM.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis- 11 sion shall amend the E-rate program to provide 12 that— 13 (A) activities that are integral, immediate, 14 and proximate to the education of a student, 15 even if those activities are performed in the 16 home of a student, qualify as activities that are 17 for educational purposes for the purposes of the 18 E-rate program; 19 (B) a household in which a student is en- 20 gaged or participating in distance learning shall 21 be an eligible recipient under the E-rate pro- 22 gram; and 23 (C) the aggregate annual cap on Federal 24 universal service support under the E-rate pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5021.IS S5021 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5021 IS gram shall be $10,000,000,000 per funding 1 year. 2 (2) COORDINATION.—In making the amend- 3 ments required under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 4 paragraph (1), the Commission shall coordinate with 5 the Secretary of Education and appropriate instru- 6 mentalities of State and local governments. 7 (3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND- 8 MENTS.—Section 254 of the Communications Act of 9 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended— 10 (A) in subsection (b)(6), by inserting ‘‘cer- 11 tain households (solely for the purposes de- 12 scribed in section 2(b)(1)(B) of the Every Child 13 Connected Act),’’ after ‘‘schools and class- 14 rooms,’’; 15 (B) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ‘‘cer- 16 tain households (solely for the purposes de- 17 scribed in section 2(b)(1)(B) of the Every Child 18 Connected Act),’’ after ‘‘schools,’’; and 19 (C) in subsection (h)— 20 (i) in paragraph (1)(B), in the first 21 sentence of the matter preceding clause (i), 22 by inserting ‘‘certain households (solely for 23 the purposes described in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5021.IS S5021 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5021 IS 2(b)(1)(B) of the Every Child Connected 1 Act),’’ after ‘‘secondary schools,’’; and 2 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 3 (I) in subparagraph (A), by in- 4 serting ‘‘certain households (solely for 5 the purposes described in section 6 2(b)(1)(B) of the Every Child Con- 7 nected Act),’’ after ‘‘classrooms,’’; and 8 (II) in subparagraph (B), by in- 9 serting ‘‘or household’’ after ‘‘public 10 institutional’’. 11 (c) TRANSFER OF FTC CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) 13 is amended by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(o)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘E-rate program’ 15 means the universal service program set forth under sub- 16 part F of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 17 (or any successor regulations). 18 ‘‘(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the Secretary of the 19 Treasury shall transfer to the Federal Communications 20 Commission an amount equal to any amount collected in 21 connection with a civil penalty under subsection (l) or (m). 22 ‘‘(3) The amounts transferred to the Federal Com- 23 munications Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) shall 24 be— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5021.IS S5021 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5021 IS ‘‘(A) transferred at least monthly from the gen- 1 eral fund of the Treasury to the Federal Commu- 2 nications Commission on the basis of estimates made 3 by the Secretary of the Treasury; 4 ‘‘(B) used by the Federal Communications 5 Commission to carry out the E-rate program, as 6 amended in accordance with section 2(b) of the 7 Every Child Connected Act; and 8 ‘‘(C) properly adjusted in the amounts subse- 9 quently transferred to the extent prior estimates 10 were in excess of or less than the amounts required 11 to be transferred.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S5021.IS S5021 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS