Community Broadband Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1197 To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to provide broadband services. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KING, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- portation A BILL To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to provide broadband services. 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 ‘‘Community Broadband 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1197.IS S1197 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1197 IS SEC. 2. STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, 1 AND CO-OP BROADBAND SERVICES. 2 Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 3 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amended— 4 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub- 5 section (e); 6 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(d) STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNER- 9 SHIP, AND CO-OP ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CA- 10 PABILITY AND SERVICES.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No statute, regulation, or 12 other legal requirement of a State may prohibit or 13 have the effect of prohibiting any public provider, 14 public-private partnership provider, or cooperatively 15 organized provider from providing, to any person or 16 public or private entity, advanced telecommuni- 17 cations capability or any service that utilizes the ad- 18 vanced telecommunications capability provided by 19 that provider. 20 ‘‘(2) ANTIDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.— 21 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC PROVIDERS.—To the extent 22 any public provider regulates competing private 23 providers of advanced telecommunications capa- 24 bility or services that utilize advanced tele- 25 communications capability, the public provider 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1197.IS S1197 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1197 IS shall apply its ordinances and rules without dis- 1 crimination in favor of— 2 ‘‘(i) the public provider; or 3 ‘‘(ii) any entity owned by the public 4 provider that provides services that utilize 5 advanced telecommunications capability. 6 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO- 7 VIDERS.—To the extent any State or local enti- 8 ty that is part of a public-private partnership 9 provider regulates competing private providers 10 of advanced telecommunications capability or 11 services that utilize advanced telecommuni- 12 cations capability, the State or local entity shall 13 apply its ordinances and rules without discrimi- 14 nation in favor of— 15 ‘‘(i) the public-private partnership 16 provider; or 17 ‘‘(ii) any entity owned by the State or 18 local entity or public-private partnership 19 provider that provides services that utilize 20 advanced telecommunications capability. 21 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub- 22 section shall exempt a public provider, public-private 23 partnership provider, or cooperatively organized pro- 24 vider from any Federal or State telecommunications 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1197.IS S1197 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1197 IS law or regulation that applies to all providers of ad- 1 vanced telecommunications capability or services 2 that utilize such advanced telecommunications capa- 3 bility.’’; and 4 (3) in subsection (e), as redesignated— 5 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 6 by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘this section’’; 8 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 9 paragraph (3); 10 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 11 following: 12 ‘‘(2) COOPERATIVELY ORGANIZED PROVIDER.— 13 The term ‘cooperatively organized provider’ means 14 an entity that is treated as a cooperative under Fed- 15 eral tax law and that provides advanced telecommu- 16 nications capability, or any service that utilizes such 17 advanced telecommunications capability, to any per- 18 son or public or private entity.’’; and 19 (D) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘public pro- 21 vider’ means a State or local entity that provides ad- 22 vanced telecommunications capability, or any service 23 that utilizes such advanced telecommunications ca- 24 pability, to any person or public or private entity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1197.IS S1197 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1197 IS ‘‘(5) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO- 1 VIDER.—The term ‘public-private partnership pro- 2 vider’ means a public-private partnership, between a 3 State or local entity and a private entity, that pro- 4 vides advanced telecommunications capability, or any 5 service that utilizes such advanced telecommuni- 6 cations capability, to any person or public or private 7 entity. 8 ‘‘(6) STATE OR LOCAL ENTITY.—The term 9 ‘State or local entity’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) a State or political subdivision there- 11 of; 12 ‘‘(B) any agency, authority, or instrumen- 13 tality of a State or political subdivision thereof; 14 or 15 ‘‘(C) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 16 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 17 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e))).’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1197.IS S1197 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS