1.This Act may be cited as
the Broadband for Rural America Act of
2006
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)High speed
broadband communications is no longer a luxury. It has become a vital service
for all Americans, much like water, sewer, gas, and electricity are essential
resources for our daily lives.
(2)Broadband
infrastructure is critical to community and economic development, by
encouraging investment, creating jobs, improving productivity, fostering
innovation, and increasing consumer benefits.
(3)Despite the
ongoing efforts by traditional communications carriers to expand broadband
services, the rate of deployment in America is still far from ideal. Recent
reports indicate that America continues to trail other leading industrialized
countries, per capita, in the availability and use of broadband
communications.
(4)As our Nation
falls behind the developed world in broadband access, so, too, are rural
residents falling behind city and urban residents. In small towns and rural
America, broadband service remains largely non existent. In places where it is
available, rural broadband customers often pay more for inferior quality than
customers in cities and urban areas.
(5)A national policy
is needed to accelerate the deployment of broadband services so that, no matter
where they live, every American can have access to affordable and high-quality
broadband service as soon as possible.
3.The purposes of this Act are to encourage
the rapid deployment of high quality and affordable high speed broadband
service to every corner of our Nation by—
(1)establishing a
new source of funding for entities that work to identify unserved regions of
the Nation and to address the lack of broadband service in those areas;
(2)reforming the
rural broadband loan program to ensure that Federal funds are provided only to
qualified entities that will serve truly rural and unserved regions of the
Nation, while providing statutory authority and Federal funding for the rural
broadband grant program;
(3)making more
unlicensed spectrum available for innovative wireless broadband uses that will
not cause harmful interference and degradation of service to other wireless
services;
(4)encouraging
rural, regional, and smaller wireless carriers to enter the wireless broadband
market by reconfiguring the size of spectrum auctions into smaller market
sizes; and
(5)studying policies
and programs adopted by State and local governments that have worked to provide
incentives for rapid broadband deployment.
4.Broadband Access
Trust Fund and Office of Broadband Access
(a)
(1)There is established in the Treasury of the United
States the Broadband Access Trust Fund.
(2)
(A)There is established within the Federal Communications
Commission the Office of Broadband Access.
(B)The
Office of Broadband Access shall coordinate the use of all resources within the
Fund, as such resources relate to the expansion of broadband technology into
rural or unserved areas.
(3)The
Fund shall consist of—
(A)the amounts
appropriated pursuant to subsection (f); and
(B)1 percent of the
proceeds of any auction for any bands of frequencies conducted pursuant to
section 309(j) of the Communications Act of
1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)).
(4)
(A)There
are appropriated from the Fund such sums as are authorized by the board to be
disbursed for grants under this section.
(B)Reversion of
unused FundsAny grant proceeds that remain unexpended at the end
of the grant period, as determined under subsection (c)(3), shall revert to and
be deposited in the Fund.
(b)
(1)The
Fund shall be administered by the Office of Broadband Access, in consultation
with a board of directors comprised of 5 members, appointed by the Chairman of
the Federal Communications Commission, with experience in 1 or more of the
following fields:
(A)Grant and
investment management.
(B)Advanced
communications technology.
(C)Rural
communications services.
(D)Community-based
economic development.
(2)The
board shall—
(A)establish
reasonable and prudent criteria for the selection of grant recipients under
this section;
(B)determine the
amount of grants awarded to such recipients; and
(C)review the use of
grant funds by such recipients.
(3)Compensation
prohibited; expenses providedThe members of the board shall
serve without compensation, but may, from appropriated funds available for the
administrative expenses of the Federal Communications Commission, receive
travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with
applicable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United
States Code.
(c)Purpose and
activities of the fund
(1)In order to achieve the objectives and carry out the
purposes of this section, the Office of Broadband Access is authorized to make
grants, from amounts deposited pursuant to subsection (a)(2) and from the
interest or other income derived from the Fund—
(A)to study the lack
of affordable broadband communications services in particular unserved regions
of the nation, particularly in rural areas; and
(B)to take steps
toward providing such services to such regions.
(2)In making grants from the Fund, the Office of
Broadband Access shall give preference to eligible individuals or entities that
are proposing rural or community-based partnerships to encourage economic
development in unserved regions of the nation, particularly in rural
areas.
(3)Grants from the Fund shall be made available on a
single or multi-year basis to facilitate long term planning.
(d)
(1)The following organizations and entities are eligible to
apply for funds under this section:
(A)An agency or
instrumentality of a State or local unit of government (including an agency or
instrumentality of a territory or possession of the United States).
(B)A nonprofit agency
or organization that is exempt from taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)).
(C)An institution of
higher education.
(D)Any legally
organized incorporated organization or other legal entity, including a
cooperative, a private corporation, or a limited liability company.
(2)
(A)In determining which legally organized incorporated
organizations or other legal entities shall receive grants from the Fund, the
Office of Broadband Access shall give preference to those organizations and
entities that are not already licensed by the Federal Communications Commission
to provide voice, data, video, or other communications or information
services.
(B)Secondary
priority for already licensed entitiesThe Office of Broadband
Access shall only award grants from the Fund to those organizations and
entities that are already licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to
provide voice, data, video, or other communications or information services
only after all applications by nonlicensed organizations described in
subparagraph (A) have been considered.
(e)Permissible uses
of FundsAmounts made available by grants from the Fund under
this section may be used by eligible entities for conducting feasibility
studies, mapping, economic analysis, and other activities done to
determine—
(1)the reasons for
the lack of affordable broadband communications services in particular unserved
regions of the nation, particularly in rural areas; and
(2)the scale, scope,
and type of broadband services most suitable for each particular unserved
area.
(f)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Fund $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal
years.
(g)
(1)Each grant recipient shall submit to the Federal
Communications Commission and the board a report on the use of the funds
provided by the grant.
(2)
(A)The Federal Communications Commission shall annually
submit to Congress a report on the operations of the Fund and the grants made
by the Fund.
(B)The report required under subparagraph (A) shall
include—
(i)an
identification of the grants made, the recipients thereof, and the planned uses
of the amounts made available;
(ii)a
financial report on the operations and condition of the Fund; and
(iii)a
description of the results of the use of funds provided by grants under this
section, including the status of broadband availability in the regions covered
by such grants.
(C)
(i)The Federal Communications Commission shall revise FCC
Form 477 reporting requirements not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act to require broadband service providers to report the
following information:
(I)Identification of
location where the provider provides broadband service to customers, identified
by zip code plus 4 digit location (referred to in this subparagraph as
service area
).
(II)Percentage of
residential households and businesses in each service area that are offered
broadband service by the provider, and the percentage of such residential
households and businesses that subscribe to each service plan offered.
(III)The average
price per megabit of download speed and upload speed in each service
area.
(IV)Identification
by service area of the provider’s broadband service’s actual average
throughput, and contention ratio of the number of users sharing the same
line.
(ii)The
Federal Communications Commission may exempt a broadband service provider from
the requirements of this subparagraph if the Federal Communications Commission
determines that a provider’s compliance with the reporting requirements is cost
prohibitive, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.
(D)The
Federal Communications Commission shall provide to Congress on an annual basis
a report, using available Census Bureau data, containing the following
information for each service area that is not served by any broadband service
provider:
(i)Population.
(ii)Population
density.
(iii)Average per
capita income.
(h)The
Federal Communications Commission may prescribe such regulations as may be
necessary and appropriate to carry out this section.
(i)As
used in this section—
(1)the term the
Fund means the Broadband Access Trust Fund established pursuant to
subsection (a); and
(2)the term the
board means the board of directors established pursuant to subsection
(b).
5.USDA broadband
program reforms
(a)Section
601(k) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb(k)) is amended
by striking 2007
and inserting 2012
.
(b)Clarification
of eligible rural communitySection 601(b)(2) of the Rural
Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb(b)(2)) is amended to read as
follows:
(2)The term eligible rural community
means
any area of the United States that is not—
(A)included within
the boundaries of any incorporated city, village, borough, or town with a
population in excess of 25,000 inhabitants;
(B)located within 10
miles of any such city, village, borough, or town; and
(C)an area where a
majority of its residential customers have access to broadband service offered
at a price per megabit of download speed and upload speed comparable to the
nearest urban
area.
.
(c)Additional
requirements for eligible entitiesSection 601 of the Rural
Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended—
(1)in subsection
(c)—
(A)in paragraph (1),
by striking (1) In
general.—
; and
(B)by striking
paragraph (2); and
(2)in subsection
(d)(1)—
(A)in subparagraph
(A), by striking ; and
and inserting a semicolon;
(B)in subparagraph
(B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and
;
and
(C)by adding at the
end the following:
(C)demonstrate that
any loan or loan guarantee obtained under this section will be used only to
furnish, improve, or extend broadband service to those eligible rural
communities.
.
(d)Community
Connect Grant programTitle VI of the Rural Electrification Act
of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
602.Community
Connect Grant program
(a)The purposes of this section are—
(1)to provide financial assistance in the form
of grants to eligible applicants that will provide, on a community-oriented
connectivity basis, broadband service that fosters economic growth and delivers
enhanced educational, health care, and public safety services; and
(2)to ensure the
deployment of broadband service to extremely rural, lower-income communities on
a community-oriented connectivity basis.
(b)
(1)The Secretary may
award a grant to any eligible applicant to provide broadband services in
accordance with the provisions of this section.
(2)The Secretary shall award grants under this section on a
competitive basis.
(c)To be eligible to obtain a grant under this section, an
applicant shall—
(1)be—
(A)legally organized
as an incorporated organization;
(B)an Indian tribe
or tribal organization, as defined in subsections (b) and (c) of section 4 of
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(b)
and (c));
(C)a State or local
unit of government;
(D)an institution of
higher education; or
(E)any other legal
entity, including a cooperative, a private corporation, or a limited liability
company organized on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis;
(2)have the legal
capacity and authority to—
(A)own and operate
the broadband facilities proposed in its application;
(B)enter into
contracts; and
(C)otherwise comply
with applicable Federal statutes and regulations; and
(3)develop a project
that—
(A)serves an
eligible rural community;
(B)deploys basic
broadband service, free of all charges for at least 2 years, to all critical
community facilities located within a proposed service area;
(C)offers basic
broadband service to residential and business customers within a proposed
service area; and
(D)provides—
(i)a
community center with at least 10 computer access points within a proposed
service area; and
(ii)broadband
service to such centers free of charge for at least 2 years.
(d)
(1)Each
applicant seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application
containing—
(A)any information
or documentation required under section 1739.15 of title 7, Code of Federal
Regulations; and
(B)such other
information or documentation that the Secretary may require.
(2)Review and
Scoring of applicationsThe Secretary shall review and score any
applications received under this section using the same methods, and in the
same manner, as described in sections 1739.16 and 1739.17 of title 7, Code of
Federal Regulations.
(e)A grant awarded to an eligible applicant pursuant to this
section may be used to—
(1)construct,
acquire, or lease facilities, including spectrum, to deploy broadband service
to all participating critical community facilities and all required facilities
needed to offer such service to residential and business customers located
within a proposed service area;
(2)improve, expand,
construct, or acquire a community center that furnishes free access to
broadband service, provided that such community center is open and accessible
to area residents before, during, and after normal working hours and on
Saturday or Sunday;
(3)purchase any end
user equipment needed to carry out the project of the applicant described in
subsection (c)(3);
(4)pay the operating
expenses incurred in providing—
(A)broadband service
to critical community facilities for the first 2 years of operation; and
(B)training and
instruction on how to use such services; and
(5)purchase any
land, building, or building construction needed to carry out the project of the
applicant described in subsection (c)(3).
(f)
(1)Each eligible applicant shall contribute not less than 15
percent of the grant amount requested in any application.
(2)The
matching contribution described in paragraph (1) may be in the following
form:
(A)Cash for eligible
grant purposes.
(B)In-kind
contributions for purposes that could have been financed with grant funds under
this section. In-kind contributions shall be new or non-depreciated assets with
established monetary values. Manufacturers’ or service providers’ discounts
shall not be considered a matching contribution.
(C)The rental value
of space provided within an existing community center, provided that such space
is provided free of charge to such applicant, for the first 2 years of
operation.
(D)Salary expenses
incurred for any individual operating the community center, for the first 2
years of operation.
(E)Expenses incurred
in operating a community center, for the first 2 years of operation.
(3)Costs incurred by an applicant, or by others on behalf of
an applicant, for facilities, installed equipment, or other services rendered
prior to submission of a completed application shall not be considered an
acceptable use of grant funds under subsection (e) or a matching
contribution.
(4)Rental values of space provided, as described in paragraph
(1)(C), shall be substantiated by rental agreements documenting the cost of
space of a similar size in a similar location.
(5)Rental values, salaries, and other expenses incurred in
operating a community center shall be subject to review by the Secretary for
reasonableness in relation to the scope of the applicant's project described in
subsection (c)(3).
(6)Any financial assistance from any other Federal source
shall not be considered a matching contribution under this section unless there
is a Federal statutory exception specifically authorizing the Federal financial
assistance to be considered as such.
(g)Each applicant shall comply with the reporting,
oversight, and auditing requirements described in sections 1739.19 and 1739.20
of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations.
(h)As
used in this section:
(1)The term basic broadband service
means the
broadband service level provided by an applicant at the lowest rate or service
package level for residential or business customers, as appropriate, provided
that such service meets the requirements of this section.
(2)The term broadband service
means providing
an information-rate equivalent to at least 200 kilobits/second in the
consumer’s connection to the network, both from the provider to the consumer
(downstream) and from the consumer to the provider (upstream).
(3)The term community center
—
(A)means a public
building, or a section of a public building with at least 10 computer access
points, that is used for the purposes of providing free access to or
instruction in the use of broadband service, and is of the appropriate size to
accommodate this purpose; and
(B)may include
schools, libraries, or a city hall.
(4)The term computer access point
means a
computer terminal with access to basic broadband service.
(5)Critical
community facilitiesThe term critical community
facilities
means any public school or education center, public library,
public medical clinic, public hospital, community college, public university,
or any law enforcement, fire, or ambulance station in a proposed service
area.
(6)The term end user equipment
means
computer hardware and software, audio or video equipment, computer network
components, telecommunications terminal equipment, inside wiring, interactive
video equipment, or other facilities required for the provision and use of
broadband service.
(7)The term rural area
means any area of the
United States that is not—
(A)included within
the boundaries of any incorporated or unincorporated city, village, borough, or
town with a population in excess of 25,000 inhabitants; and
(B)located within 10
miles of any such city, village, borough, or town.
(8)The
term Secretary
means the Secretary of Agriculture.
(9)The term service area
means a single
community, and may include the unincorporated areas or locally recognized
communities, not recognized in the most recent decennial census performed by
the Bureau of the Census, located outside and contiguous to the boundaries of
such community, in which the applicant proposes to provide broadband
service.
(10)The
term spectrum
means a defined band of frequencies that will
accommodate broadband
service.
.
6.The Secretary of
Agriculture shall initiate and complete a rulemaking to—
(1)consider and
adopt, as necessary in the discretion of the Secretary, the recommendations set
forth in audit report 09601–4–Te, issued in September 2005, entitled
Rural Utilities Service Broadband Grant and Loan Programs
by the
Inspector General of the United States Department of Agriculture; and
(2)review and
propose recommendations as to how to best coordinate the application process of
the broadband loan and loan guarantee program under section 601 of the Rural
Electrification Act of 1936 and the Community Connect Grant program under
section 602 of such Act, as added by section 2 of this Act.
7.Unlicensed
devices for rural wireless broadband
(a)Not later than 18 months after date of enactment of this
Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall issue a final order in the
matter of Unlicensed Operation in TV Broadcast Bands, ET Docket No.
04–186.
(b)In
completing the final order described in subsection (a), the Federal
Communications Commission shall—
(1)permit certified
unlicensed devices to use, in non-exclusive terms, unassigned, non-licensed
television broadcast channels between 54 MHz and 698 MHz in rural areas;
(2)protect incumbent
certified low power auxiliary stations from harmful interference by requiring
certification of unlicensed devices prior to permitting such devices to access
or use unassigned, non-licensed television broadcast channels between 54 MHz
and 698 MHz in rural areas, and including in the certification proof of
successful completion of laboratory and field testing by an independent
laboratory demonstrating that unlicensed devices do not cause harmful
interference to incumbent certified low power auxiliary stations;
(3)protect incumbent
certified low power auxiliary stations from harmful interference by prohibiting
certified unlicensed devices from operating on any television broadcast channel
between 54 MHz and 698 MHz in rural areas already in use by an incumbent
certified low power auxiliary station; and
(4)consider
additional ways to protect incumbent certified low power auxiliary stations
from harmful interference, such as reserving certain television broadcast
channels for exclusive use by incumbent certified low power auxiliary
stations.
(c)As
used in this section:
(1)Certified
unlicensed deviceThe term certified unlicensed
device means any unlicensed device certified under subsection (b)(2)(D)
operating in a fixed location, whose primary purpose is to provide broadband
service to rural areas.
(2)Incumbent
certified low power auxiliary stationThe term incumbent
certified low power auxiliary station means any certified low power
wireless microphone, personal wireless monitor, or other audio auxiliary
equipment operating on television broadcast channels between 54 MHz and 698
MHz, used for entertainment, religious, news-gathering, governmental, business,
or personal consumer purposes to provide real-time, high-quality audio
transmissions over distances of approximately 100 meters.
(3)The term rural area means any rural service
area or rural statistical area, as defined by the Federal Communications
Commission.
8.Spectrum auction
for rural wireless broadbandNot later than February 1, 2007, the Federal
Communications Commission shall initiate a proceeding—
(1)to reevaluate and
reconfigure its band plans for the upper 700 MHz band (currently designated
Auction 31) and for the unauctioned portions of the lower 700 MHz band
(currently designated as Channel Blocks A, B, and E) so as to designate up to
12 MHz of paired recovered analog spectrum (as defined in section
309(j)(15)(C)(vi) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
309(j)(15)(C)(vi))); and
(2)to reconfigure
its band plans to include spectrum to be licensed for small geographic license
areas, taking into consideration the desire to promote infrastructure build-out
and service to rural and insular areas and the competitive benefits, unique
characteristics, and special needs of rural, regional, and smaller wireless
carriers.
9.Public-private
task force on broadband initiatives
(a)There
is established a task force to be known as the Rural Broadband Access
Task Force
(referred to in this section as the Task
Force).
(b)
(1)The Task Force established under this section shall be
composed of 11 members, of whom—
(A)3 shall be appointed by the
President;
(B)2 shall be appointed by the Majority Leader
of the Senate;
(C)2 shall be appointed by the minority Leader
of the Senate;
(D)2 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives; and
(E)2 shall be appointed by the minority Leader
of the House of Representatives.
(2)The membership of the Task Force
established under this section shall include—
(A)at least 6
members of whom—
(i)all
shall be recognized experts in the field of communications;
(ii)2
shall be employees of the Federal Government;
(iii)2
shall be employees of State governments; and
(iv)2
shall be employees of local governments;
(B)at least 1 member
who shall be a representative of a consumer or public interest
organization;
(C)at least 1 member
who shall be a representative of interested trade associations;
(D)at least 1 member
who shall be a representative of interested academic institutions; and
(E)at least 2
members all of whom shall be especially qualified to serve on the Task Force by
virtue of their education, training, or experience, particularly in the field
of rural communications access issues.
(3)Each
year, the Task Force shall elect a Chairperson from among its members.
(4)Each year, the Task Force shall elect a Vice Chair from
among its members.
(c)The
Task Force shall—
(1)conduct a
comprehensive survey of legislative, regulatory, or administrative policies or
programs adopted by States to encourage rapid deployment of broadband
services;
(2)study policies or
programs that have been successful in providing incentives for communications
carriers to deploy or expand services in areas that lacked such services before
the introduction of such incentives; and
(3)study traditional
incentives, such as tax credits or financial subsidies, as well as innovative
efforts, including public and private partnership programs and best practices
that have worked well in encouraging communications carriers to deploy or
expand services in areas that lacked such services, particularly in those
States with large unserved rural areas.
(d)Not
later than 6 months after all the members of the Task Force have been appointed
under subsection (b), the Task Force shall submit a report to Congress and to
the governor of each State detailing a comprehensive list of policies and
programs adopted by States that have succeeded in providing incentives for
communications carriers to deploy or expand services in areas that lacked such
services before the introduction of such incentives.
(e)
(1)The Task Force may establish such working groups as the
Task Force determines necessary in order to assist the Task Force in carrying
out this subsection.
(2)Any
working group established under paragraph (1) may include such members as the
Task Force determines necessary, including individuals who were not appointed
as a member of the Task Force under subsection (b).
(f)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this
section.