[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3627 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3627

 To promote the deployment and adoption of telecommunications services 
         and information technologies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 20, 2007

     Mr. Space (for himself, Mrs. Boyda of Kansas, and Mr. Arcuri) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To promote the deployment and adoption of telecommunications services 
         and information technologies, 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 ``Connect The Nation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The deployment and adoption of broadband service and 
        information technology has resulted in enhanced economic 
        development and public safety for communities across the 
        Nation, improved health care and educational opportunities, and 
        a better quality of life for all Americans.
            (2) Continued progress in the deployment and adoption of 
        broadband and other advanced information services is vital to 
        ensuring that our Nation remains competitive and continues to 
        create business and job growth.
            (3) The Federal Government should also recognize and 
        encourage complementary state efforts to improve the quality 
        and usefulness of broadband data and should encourage and 
        support the partnership of the public and private sectors in 
        the continued growth of broadband service and information 
        technology for the residents and businesses of the Nation.

SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE BROADBAND.

    (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            (1) to ensure that all citizens and businesses in a State 
        have access to affordable and reliable broadband service;
            (2) to achieve improved technology literacy, increased 
        computer ownership, and home broadband use among such citizens 
        and businesses;
            (3) to establish and empower local grassroots technology 
        teams in each State to plan for improved technology use across 
        multiple community sectors; and
            (4) to establish and sustain an environment ripe for 
        broadband service and information technology investment.
    (b) Establishment of State Broadband Data and Development Grant 
Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants, taking 
        into account the results of the peer review process under 
        subsection (d), to eligible entities for the development and 
        implementation of statewide initiatives to identify and track 
        the availability and adoption of broadband service within each 
        State.
            (2) Competitive basis.--Any grant under this section shall 
        be awarded on a competitive basis.
    (c) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
subsection (b), an eligible entity shall--
            (1) submit an application to the Secretary, at such time, 
        in such manner, and containing such information as the 
        Secretary may require; and
            (2) agree to contribute matching non-Federal funds in an 
        amount equal to not less than 20 percent of the total amount of 
        the grant.
    (d) Peer Review.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall by regulation require 
        appropriate technical and scientific peer review of 
        applications made for grants under this section.
            (2) Review procedures.--The regulations required under 
        paragraph (1) shall require that any technical and scientific 
        peer review group--
                    (A) be provided a written description of the grant 
                to be reviewed;
                    (B) provide the results of any review by such group 
                to the Secretary; and
                    (C) certify that such group will enter into 
                voluntary nondisclosure agreements as necessary to 
                prevent the unauthorized disclosure of confidential and 
                propriety information provided by broadband service 
                providers in connection with projects funded by any 
                such grant.
    (e) Use of Funds.--A grant awarded to an eligible entity under 
subsection (b) shall be used--
            (1) to provide a baseline assessment of broadband service 
        deployment in each State;
            (2) to identify and track--
                    (A) areas in each State that have low levels of 
                broadband service deployment;
                    (B) the rate at which residential and business 
                customers adopt broadband service and other related 
                information technology services; and
                    (C) possible suppliers of such services;
            (3) to identify barriers to the adoption by individuals and 
        businesses of broadband service and related information 
        technology services, including whether or not--
                    (A) the demand for such services is absent; and
                    (B) the supply for such services is capable of 
                meeting the demand for such services;
            (4) to create and facilitate in each county or designated 
        region in a State a local technology planning team--
                    (A) with members representing a cross section of 
                the community, including representatives of business, 
                telecommunications labor organizations, K-12 education, 
                health care, libraries, higher education, community-
                based organizations, local government, tourism, parks 
                and recreation, and agriculture; and
                    (B) which shall--
                            (i) measure technology use across relevant 
                        community sectors;
                            (ii) set goals for improved technology use 
                        within each sector; and
                            (iii) develop a tactical business plan for 
                        achieving the local technology planning team's 
                        goals, with specific recommendations for online 
                        application development and demand creation;
            (5) to work collaboratively with broadband service 
        providers and information technology companies to encourage 
        deployment and use, especially in unserved and underserved 
        areas, through the use of local demand aggregation, mapping 
        analysis, and the creation of market intelligence to improve 
        the business case for providers to deploy;
            (6) to establish programs to improve computer ownership and 
        Internet access for unserved and underserved populations;
            (7) to collect and analyze detailed market data concerning 
        the use and demand for broadband service and related 
        information technology services;
            (8) to facilitate information exchange regarding the use 
        and demand for broadband service between public and private 
        sectors; and
            (9) to create within each State a geographic inventory map 
        of broadband service, which shall--
                    (A) identify gaps in such service through a method 
                of geographic information system mapping of service 
                availability at the census block level; and
                    (B) provide a baseline assessment of statewide 
                broadband deployment in terms of households with high-
                speed availability.
    (f) Participation Limit.--For each State, an eligible entity may 
not receive a new grant under this section to fund the activities 
described in subsection (e) within such State if such organization 
obtained prior grant awards under this section to fund the same 
activities in that State in each of the previous 4 consecutive years.
    (g) Report.--Each recipient of a grant under subsection (b) shall 
submit a report on the use of the funds provided by the grant to the 
Secretary not later than 1 year after the funds were received.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Broadband service.--The term ``broadband service'' 
        means any service that connects to the public Internet that 
        provides a data transmission-rate equivalent to at least 200 
        kilobits per second or any successor transmission-rate 
        established by the Federal Communications Commission, in at 
        least 1 direction.
            (2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a 
        nonprofit organization--
                    (A) that is selected by a State to work in 
                partnership with State agencies and private sector 
                partners in identifying and tracking the availability 
                and adoption of broadband service within each State;
                    (B) that has an established competency and proven 
                record of working with public and private sectors to 
                accomplish widescale deployment and adoption of 
                broadband service and information technology; and
                    (C) the board of directors of which is not composed 
                of a majority of individuals who are also employed by, 
                or otherwise associated with, any Federal, State, or 
                local government or any Federal, State, or local 
                agency.
            (3) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit 
        organization'' means an organization--
                    (A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 
                Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 
                501(a) of such Code; and
                    (B) no part of the net earnings of which inures to 
                the benefit of any member, founder, contributor, or 
                individual.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce.
            (5) State.--The term ``State'' means each State, the 
        District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 
        Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and federally 
        recognized Indian tribes.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $40,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2008 through 2012.
    (j) No Regulatory Authority.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed as giving any public or private entity established or 
affected by this Act any regulatory jurisdiction or oversight authority 
over providers of broadband service or information technology.
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