HR 3369 — Broadband for Rural America Act

(a) Purpose The purpose of this section is to provide grants, provide loans, and provide loan guarantees to provide funds for the costs of the construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equipment for broadband service in rural areas. (b) Definitions In this section: (1) Broadband service The term “broadband service” means any technology identified by the Secretary as having the capacity to transmit data to enable a subscriber to the service to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video. (2) Incumbent service provider The term “incumbent service provider”, with respect to an application submitted under this section, means an entity that, as of the date of submission of the application, is providing broadband service to not less than 5 percent of the households in the service territory proposed in the application. (3) Rural area (A) In general The term “rural area” means any area other than— (i) an area described in clause (i) or (ii) of section 1991(a)(13)(A) of this title; and (ii) in the case of a grant or direct loan, a city, town, or incorporated area that has a population of greater than 20,000 inhabitants. (B) Urban area growth The Secretary may, by regulation only, consider an area described in section 1991(a)(13)(F)(i)(I) of this title to not be a rural area for purposes of this section. (C) Exclusion of certain populations Such term does not include any population described in subparagraph (H) or (I) of section 1991(a)(13) of this title. (c) Grants, loans, and loan guarantees (1) In general The Secretary shall make grants, shall make loans, and shall guarantee loans to eligible entities described in subsection (d) to provide funds for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment for the provision of broadband service in rural areas. (2) Priority (A) In general In making grants, making loans, and guaranteeing loans under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— (i) give the highest priority to applications for projects to provide broadband service to unserved rural communities that do not have any residential broadband service of at least— (I) a 10-Mbps downstream transmission capacity; and (II) a 1-Mbps upstream transmission capacity; (ii) give priority to applications for projects to provide the maximum level of broadband service to the greatest proportion of rural households in the proposed service area identified in the application; (iii) provide equal consideration to all eligible entities, including those that have not previously received grants, loans, or loan guarantees under paragraph (1); and (iv) with respect to 2 or more applications that are given the same priority under clause (i), give priority to an application that requests less grant funding than loan funding. (B) Other After giving priority to the applications described in clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall then give priority to applications— (i) for projects to provide broadband service to rural communities— (I) with a population of less than 10,000 permanent residents; (II) that are experiencing outmigration and have adopted a strategic community investment plan under section 2008v(d) of this title that includes considerations for improving and expanding broadband service; (III) with a high percentage of low income families or persons (as defined in section 1471(b) of title 42); (IV) that are isolated from other significant population centers; or (V) that provide rapid and expanded deployment of fixed and mobile broadband on cropland and ranchland within a service territory for use in various applications of precision agriculture; and (ii) that were developed with the participation of, and will receive a substantial portion of the funding for the project from, 2 or more stakeholders, including— (I) State, local, and tribal governments; (II) nonprofit institutions; (III) community anchor institutions, such as— (aa) public libraries; (bb) elementary school...

(a) Purpose The purpose of this section is to encourage the expansion and extension of middle mile broadband infrastructure to connect underserved rural areas to the backbone of the Internet. (b) Middle mile infrastructure For the purposes of this section, the term “middle mile infrastructure” means any broadband infrastructure that does not connect directly to end-user locations (including anchor institutions) and may include interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet connectivity, data centers, or special access transport to rural areas. (c) Grants, loans, and loan guarantees The Secretary shall make grants, loans, and loan guarantees to eligible applicants described in subsection (d) to provide funds for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of middle mile infrastructure to serve rural areas. (d) Eligibility (1) Eligible applicants (A) In general To be eligible to obtain assistance under this section, an eligible entity shall— (i) submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require; (ii) agree to complete build-out of the middle mile infrastructure described in the application by not later than 5 years after the initial date on which proceeds from the assistance provided under this section are made available; and (iii) submit to the Secretary a plan to ensure the viability of the project by— (I) connecting, assisting with connecting, or enabling the connection of retail broadband systems that serve rural areas within the proposed service territory to the middle mile infrastructure project in an affordable and economically competitive manner; (II) leasing or selling sufficient capacity prior to project approval; and (III) complying with any other requirements imposed by the Secretary. (B) Additional end user broadband programs Entities that receive assistance to construct, improve, or acquire middle mile infrastructure under this section shall be eligible to apply for additional funds under this subchapter to provide for retail broadband service to end users. (2) Eligible service territories The proceeds of assistance provided under this section may be used to carry out a project in a proposed service territory only if, as of the date the application for assistance under this section is submitted, there is not adequate middle mile infrastructure available to support broadband service for eligible rural communities that would be provided access to the middle mile infrastructure. (3) Eligible projects A project shall be eligible for assistance under this section if at the time of the application— (A) at least 75 percent of the interconnection points serve such eligible rural areas; and (B) the Secretary determines that the proposed middle mile network will be capable of supporting retail broadband service meeting the maximum broadband buildout requirement established under section 950bb(e)(4) of this title for the residents within the proposed service territory. (e) Limitation on grants In making grants under this section, the Secretary shall— (1) not provide any grant in excess of 20 percent of the total project cost; and (2) provide grants only to those projects which serve rural areas where population density or geographic characteristics make it infeasible to construct middle mile broadband systems without grant assistance. (f) Terms, conditions, and adequacy of security All loans and loan guarantees provided under this section shall be made subject to such terms, conditions, and adequacy of security requirements as may be imposed by the Secretary. If the middle mile infrastructure would not provide adequate security due to long-term leasing arrangements, the Secretary shall require substitute security in such form and substance as are acceptable to the Secretary. (g) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2023.

(a) In general The Secretary shall establish a program to be known as the “Innovative Broadband Advancement Program”, under which the Secretary may provide a grant, a loan, or both to an eligible entity for the purpose of demonstrating innovative broadband technologies or methods of broadband deployment that significantly decrease the cost of broadband deployment, and provide substantially faster broadband speeds than are available, in a rural area. (b) Rural area In this section, the term “rural area” has the meaning provided in section 950bb(b)(3) of this title. (c) Eligibility To be eligible to obtain assistance under this section for a project, an entity shall— (1) submit to the Secretary an application— (A) that describes a project designed to decrease the cost of broadband deployment, and substantially increase broadband speed to not less than the maximum 1 broadband buildout requirements established under section 950bb(e)(4) of this title, in a rural area to be served by the project; and (B) at such time, in such manner, and containing such other information as the Secretary may require; (2) demonstrate that the entity is able to carry out the project; and (3) agree to complete the project build-out within 5 years after the date the assistance is first provided for the project. (d) Prioritization In awarding assistance under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to proposals for projects that— (1) involve partnerships between or among multiple entities; (2) would provide broadband service to the greatest number of rural entities at or above the broadband requirements referred to in subsection (c)(1)(A); and (3) the Secretary determines could be replicated in rural areas described in paragraph (2). (e) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023.

(a) Consultation between USDA and NTIA The Secretary shall consult with the Assistant Secretary to assist in the verification of eligibility of the broadband loan and grant programs of the Department of Agriculture. In providing assistance under the preceding sentence, the Assistant Secretary shall make available the broadband assessment and mapping capabilities of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (b) Consultation between USDA and FCC (1) By USDA The Secretary shall consult with the Commission before providing broadband assistance for a project to serve an area with respect to which another entity is receiving Connect America Fund or Mobility Fund support under the Federal universal service support mechanisms established under section 254 of title 47. (2) By FCC The Commission shall consult with the Secretary before offering or providing Connect America Fund or Mobility Fund support under the Federal universal service support mechanisms established under section 254 of title 47 to serve an area with respect to which another entity has received broadband assistance under a loan or grant program of the Department of Agriculture. (c) Report to Congress Not later than 1 year after December 20, 2018, the Secretary, the Commission, and the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on how best to coordinate federally supported broadband programs and activities in order to achieve the following objectives: (1) Promote high-quality broadband service that meets the long-term needs of rural residents and businesses, by evaluating the broadband service needs in rural areas for each decade through 2050. (2) Support the long-term viability, sustainability, and utility of federally supported rural broadband infrastructure, by analyzing the technical capabilities of the technologies currently available and reasonably expected to be available by 2035 to meet the broadband service needs of rural residents identified under paragraph (1), including by analyzing the following: (A) The real-world performance of such technologies, including data rates, latency, data usage restrictions, and other aspects of service quality, as defined by the Commission. (B) The suitability of each such technology for residential, agricultural, educational, healthcare, commercial, and industrial purposes in rural areas. (C) The cost to deploy and support such technologies in several rural geographies. (D) The costs associated with online platforms, specifically the resulting constraints on rural network bandwidth. (3) Identify and quantify the availability of broadband service and ongoing broadband deployment in rural areas, including ways to do the following: (A) Harmonize broadband notification and reporting requirements and develop common verification procedures across all federally supported broadband programs. (B) Consolidate and utilize the existing broadband service data. (C) Collect and share data on those projects in rural areas where Federal programs are currently supporting broadband deployment, including areas with respect to which an entity is receiving— (i) support under a broadband assistance program of the Department of Agriculture; or (ii) Connect America Fund or Mobility Fund support under the Federal universal service support mechanisms established under section 254 of title 47. (D) Leverage support technologies and services from online platforms for providers of broadband service in rural areas. (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Assistant Secretary The term “Assistant Secretary” means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. (2) Commission The term “Commission” means the Federal Communications Commission. (3) Rural area The term “rural area” has the ...

(a) Notice requirements The Secretary shall promptly make available to the public,1 a fully searchable database on the website of the Rural Utilities Service that contains information on all retail broadband projects provided assistance or for which assistance is sought that are administered by the Secretary, including, at a minimum— (1) notice of each application for assistance describing the application, including— (A) the identity of the applicant; (B) a description of each application, including— (i) a map of the proposed service area of the applicant; and (ii) the amount and type of support requested by each applicant; (C) the status of each application; and (D) the estimated number and proportion of service points in the proposed service territory without fixed broadband service, whether terrestrial or wireless; (2) notice of each entity receiving assistance administered by the Secretary, including— (A) the name of the entity; (B) the type of assistance being received; (C) the purpose for which the entity is receiving the assistance; and (D) each annual report submitted under subsection (c) (redacted to protect any proprietary information in the report); and (3) such other information as is sufficient to allow the public to understand assistance provided. (b) Service area assessment (1) In general The Secretary shall, with respect to a retail broadband application for assistance, which is outside an area in which the applicant receives Federal universal service support— (A) after giving notice required by subsection (a)(1), afford service providers not less than 45 days to voluntarily submit information required by the Secretary onto the agency’s online mapping tool with respect to areas that are coterminous with the proposed service area of the application (or any parts thereof), such that the Secretary may assess whether the application submitted meets the eligibility requirements under this subchapter; and (B) if no broadband service provider submits information under paragraph (1), consider the number of providers in the proposed service area to be established by using any other data regarding the availability of broadband service that the Secretary may collect or obtain through reasonable efforts. (2) Assessment of unserved communities In the case of an application given the highest priority under section 950bb(c)(2)(A)(i) of this title, the Secretary shall confirm that each unserved rural community identified in the application is eligible for funding by— (A) conferring with, and obtaining data from, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration with respect to the service level in the service area proposed in the application; (B) reviewing any other source that is relevant to service data validation, as determined by the Secretary; and (C) performing site-specific testing to verify the unavailability of any retail broadband service. (3) FOIA exemption For purposes of section 552 of title 5, information received by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection shall be exempt from disclosure pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(B) of such section 552. (c) Reporting broadband improvements to USDA (1) In general The Secretary shall require any entity receiving assistance for a project which provides retail broadband service to submit an annual report for 3 years after completion of the project, in a format specified by the Secretary, that describes— (A) the use by the entity of the assistance, including new equipment and capacity enhancements that support high-speed broadband access for educational institutions, health care providers, and public safety service providers (including the estimated number of end users who are currently using or forecasted to use the new or upgraded infrastructure); and (B) the progress towards fulfilling the objectives for which the assistance was granted, including— (i) the number of...