110 HR 3281 IH: Community Broadband Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2007-08-01 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.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3281 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Community Broadband Act of 2007.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)).