115 HR 288 IH: Small Business Broadband Deployment Act U.S. House of Representatives 2017-01-04 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I115th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 288IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJanuary 4, 2017Mr. Walden (for himself and Mr. Loebsack) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and CommerceA BILLTo ensure that small business providers of broadband Internet access service can devote resources to broadband deployment rather than compliance with cumbersome regulatory requirements.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act.

2.

Exception to enhancement to transparency requirements for small businesses

(a)

In general

The enhancements to the transparency rule of the Federal Communications Commission under section 8.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, as described in paragraphs 162 through 184 of the Report and Order on Remand, Declaratory Ruling, and Order of the Federal Communications Commission with regard to protecting and promoting the open Internet (adopted February 26, 2015) (FCC 15–24), shall not apply to any small business. (b)

Sunset

Subsection (a) shall not have any force or effect after the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. (c)

Report by FCC

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report that contains the recommendations of the Commission (and data supporting such recommendations) regarding— (1)whether the exception provided by subsection (a) should be made permanent; and (2)whether the definition of the term small business for purposes of such exception should be modified from the definition in subsection (d)(2). (d)

Definitions

In this section: (1)

Broadband Internet access service

The term broadband Internet access service has the meaning given such term in section 8.2 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. (2)

Small business

The term small business means any provider of broadband Internet access service that has not more than 250,000 subscribers.