[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3281 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3281

To promote competition, to preserve the ability of local governments to 
   provide broadband capability and services, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2007

Mr. Boucher (for himself and Mr. Upton) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To promote competition, to preserve the ability of local governments to 
   provide broadband capability and services, 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 ``Community Broadband Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS 
              CAPABILITY AND SERVICES.

    No State or local government statute, regulation, or other State or 
local government legal requirement may prohibit, or have the effect of 
prohibiting, any public provider from providing advanced communications 
capability or services to any person or to any public or private 
entity.

SEC. 3. SAFEGUARDS.

    (a) Competition Neutrality.--A public provider shall not grant any 
regulatory preference to itself or to any provider of advanced 
communications capability or service that it owns or with which it is 
affiliated. Such public provider shall apply its ordinances, rules, and 
policies, including those relating to the use of public rights-of-way, 
permitting, performance bonding, procurement, and reporting, without 
discrimination in favor of any such provider as compared to other 
providers of such services.
    (b) Application of General Laws.--Except as provided in section 2 
and subsection (a) of this section, nothing in this Act affects any 
obligation or benefit that a public provider has under any other 
Federal or State law or regulation.

SEC. 4. PUBLIC INPUT.

    (a) Notice and Opportunity To Be Heard.--Before a public provider 
may provide advanced communications capability or services to the 
public, either directly or through a public-private partnership, such 
public provider shall--
            (1) publish notice of its intention to do so;
            (2) generally describe the capability or services to be 
        provided and the proposed coverage area for such capability or 
        services;
            (3) identify any special capabilities or services to be 
        provided in low-income areas or other demographically or 
        geographically defined areas; and
            (4) provide local citizens and private-sector entities with 
        an opportunity to be heard on the costs and benefits of the 
        project and potential alternatives to it.
    (b) Application to Existing Projects and Pending Proposals.--
Subsection (a) does not apply to--
            (1) any contract or other arrangement under which a public 
        provider is providing advanced communications capability or 
        services to the public as of the date of enactment of this Act; 
        and
            (2) any public provider proposal to provide advanced 
        communications capability or services to the public that, as of 
        the date of enactment--
                    (A) is in the request-for-proposals process;
                    (B) is in the process of being built; or
                    (C) has been approved by referendum.

SEC. 5. EXEMPTIONS.

    The requirements of sections 3 and 4 do not apply--
            (1) to a public provider's provision of advanced 
        communications capabilities or services to itself or to another 
        public entity; or
            (2) during an emergency declared by the President, the 
        Governor of the State in which the public provider is located, 
        or any other elected local official authorized by law to 
        declare a state or emergency in the jurisdiction in which the 
        public provider is located.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Advanced communications capability or services.--The 
        term ``advanced communications capability or services'' means a 
        capability that enables, or services that enable, users to 
        originate or receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, video 
        or other communications using any broadband technology.
            (2) Public provider.--The term ``public provider'' means a 
        State or political subdivision thereof, any agency, authority, 
        or instrumentality of a State or political subdivision thereof, 
        or any entity that is owned, controlled, or otherwise 
        affiliated with a State, political subdivision thereof, or its 
        agency, authority, or instrumentality.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' has the meaning provided in 
        section 3(a)(40) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        153(a)(40)).
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