[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2430 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2430

  To provide for parity in regulatory treatment of broadband services 
  providers and of broadband access services providers, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 2002

 Mr. Breaux (for himself, Mr. Nickles, Mr. Cleland, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
 Miller, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Craig) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for parity in regulatory treatment of broadband services 
  providers and of broadband access services providers, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Broadband Regulatory Parity Act of 
2002''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The cable modem service offered by cable operators for 
        high-speed access to the Internet is functionally equivalent 
        to, and competes with, digital subscriber line service offered 
        by local exchange carriers.
            (2) Cable modem services and digital subscriber line 
        services are subject to disparate regulatory treatment by the 
        Federal Government and by State and local governments.
            (3) Competing and functionally equivalent products and 
        services should be regulated, or not regulated, in the same 
        manner, regardless of who provides such products or services.
            (4) The Federal Communications Commission is best 
        positioned to determine which, if any, regulatory requirements 
        for broadband access services should be retained and which, if 
        any, should be eliminated.
            (5) The Commission should be required to ensure that 
        providers of broadband services are regulated in an equivalent 
        manner, regardless of the platform used to provide such 
        services.
            (6) Government regulation should not favor or advantage one 
        class of competitors among competitors offering similar 
        products or services.
            (7) The deployment of digital subscriber line service has 
        been restrained by regulatory requirements that are 
        inappropriate for a competitive service offered by various non-
        dominant providers.
            (8) Inappropriate regulation imposes needless costs and 
        results in higher consumer costs.
            (9) Lower consumer costs will accelerate demand for high-
        speed Internet access services.
            (10) Regulatory certainty and parity will provide 
        incentives to increase deployment of high-speed Internet 
        services, bringing the benefits of such services to communities 
        in the form of enhancements in medicine, education, national 
        security, work from home, and other benefits.
            (11) The United States lags behind many other countries in 
        the deployment of high-speed data services.
            (12) When all providers of broadband services compete under 
        the same rules, consumers will benefit from increased choices 
        and lower prices.

SEC. 3. PARITY IN REGULATORY TREATMENT OF BROADBAND SERVICE PROVIDERS 
              AND BROADBAND ACCESS SERVICE PROVIDERS.

    (a) In General.--Part II of title II of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 262. PARITY IN REGULATORY TREATMENT OF BROADBAND SERVICE 
              PROVIDERS AND BROADBAND ACCESS SERVICE PROVIDERS.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Commission shall, not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of the Broadband Regulatory Parity Act of 2002, prescribe 
regulations to ensure that--
            ``(1) all broadband services, and all broadband access 
        services, are subject to the same regulatory requirements, or 
        no regulatory requirements;
            ``(2) all providers of broadband services, and all 
        providers of broadband access services, are subject to the same 
        regulatory requirements, or no regulatory requirements, with 
        respect to the provision of such services and the facilities 
        and equipment used to provide such services in the provision of 
        such services; and
            ``(3) paragraphs (1) and (2) are implemented without 
        increasing the regulatory requirements applicable to any 
        provider of broadband services, or broadband access services, 
        on any such service or on any facilities or equipment used to 
        provide any such service in the provision of such service.
    ``(b) Prohibition on State Jurisdiction.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, broadband services and broadband access services, and 
the facilities and equipment used to provide such services in the 
provision of such services, shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of 
any State.
    ``(c) Obligations of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to Internet 
Service Providers.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), each incumbent 
local exchange carrier has the duty to provide all Internet service 
providers with the telecommunications necessary for such provider to 
provide broadband access service to its subscribers. Such 
telecommunications shall be offered on rates, terms, and conditions 
that are just and reasonable.
    ``(d) Savings Provisions.--(1) Nothing in this section affects the 
requirements of section 271.
    ``(2) Nothing in this section affects the obligations of incumbent 
local exchange carriers under section 251(c) to provide requesting 
telecommunications carriers with services and access to facilities and 
equipment necessary for the provision of switch-based voice 
telecommunications service.
    ``(3) Nothing in this section precludes or affects any tariff filed 
by the National Exchange Carrier Association or any rural telephone 
company, and any such tariff may continue to include broadband 
services.
    ``(4) Nothing in this section affects section 251(f).''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 153) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (20) through (52) as 
        paragraphs (22) through (54), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (19) the following new 
        paragraphs:
            ``(20) Broadband service.--The term `broadband service' 
        means any service that is used to provide access to the 
        Internet and consists of or includes the offering of a 
        capability to transmit information at a rate that is generally 
        not less than 256 kilobits per second in at least one 
        direction.
            ``(21) Broadband access service.--The term `broadband 
        access service' means a service that combines computer 
        processing, information storage, protocol conversion, and wire 
        routing with transmission to enable users to access Internet 
        content and services.''.
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