[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2139 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2139

    To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make loans for the 
           development of broadband services in rural areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2001

Mr. Smith of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
   the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make loans for the 
           development of broadband services in rural areas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural America Broadband Deployment 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) high-speed Internet access (broadband) will benefit 
        rural communities, agricultural producers, and the American 
        public by enabling--
                    (A) the improvement of productivity;
                    (B) the creation of new market outlets;
                    (C) the simplification of price discovery;
                    (D) the creation of risk management;
                    (E) forward pricing opportunities;
            (2) according to a national survey, if United States 
        farmers had broadband access last year, their savings in input 
        costs and gains from greater marketing efficiencies would have 
        netted them at least $5,800,000,000;
            (3) as e-commerce becomes as revolutionary to the United 
        States economy as the telegraph, telephone, and telefax has 
        been, it is in the Nation's best overall interests not to leave 
        rural communities and agriculture behind the technological 
        curve.

SEC. 3. BROADBAND LOAN PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Loan authority.--The Secretary of Agriculture (in this 
        section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall make loans, to 
        the extent of qualifying applications for such loans, to 
        eligible persons and entities (including public entities) to 
        provide or improve broadband service in rural areas where the 
        Secretary determines services are not adequate.
            (2) Refinancing of existing loans.--The Secretary may make 
        a loan under this section to refinance an outstanding loan if 
        the Secretary determines the refinancing is necessary to 
        provide or improve broadband service in a rural area.
    (b) Loan Terms and Conditions.--
            (1) Interest rate.--The interest rate charged for a loan 
        under this section shall be determined by the Secretary and 
        shall approximate the interest rate borne by securities issued 
        by the Treasury of the United States with comparable 
        maturities.
            (2) Term of loan.--The term of a loan under this section 
        shall not exceed the composite useful life of the assets 
        financed by the loan.
            (3) Feasibility and security.--The Secretary may not make a 
        loan to a borrower under this section unless the Secretary 
        determines that the borrower--
                    (A) can repay the loan in accordance with the loan 
                terms; and
                    (B) has provided sufficient collateral to secure 
                the loan.
            (4) Other Loan Terms.--The Secretary shall prescribe such 
        other terms and conditions for loans made under this section as 
        the Secretary deems appropriate.
    (c) Limitations on Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out 
this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Broadband service.--The term ``broadband service'' 
        means providing an information rate equivalent to at least 200 
        kilobits per second in the connection from the provider to the 
        consumer and from the consumer to the provider.
            (2) Rural area.--The term ``rural area'' means any area of 
        the United States not included within the boundaries of any 
        incorporated or unincorporated city, village, or borough having 
        a population in excess of 50,000 inhabitants.
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