[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3919 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3919

    To provide for a comprehensive nationwide inventory of existing 
               broadband service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 22, 2007

 Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Dingell, Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico, Ms. 
 Eshoo, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Gordon of Tennessee, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Space, Mr. 
Hill, Ms. Solis, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, and Mr. Allen) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for a comprehensive nationwide inventory of existing 
               broadband service, 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 Census of America Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. CENSUS OF BROADBAND SERVICE AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT.

    (a) Duty To Collect and Report.--
            (1) Annual assessment and report.--The Commission shall, on 
        an annual basis, conduct an assessment and publish a report on 
        the deployment, by bandwidth service tiers and types of 
        technology, of broadband service capability throughout the 
        States.
            (2) Bandwidth service tiers.--The Commission shall 
        designate bandwidth service tiers by identifying tiers of 
        increasing data transmission speeds of broadband service 
        capability that will provide useful, informative information 
        about the nature and extent of deployment of broadband service 
        capability. At a minimum, the tiers in the aggregate shall 
        encompass all data transmission speeds deployed, and shall 
        consist of multiple combinations of upstream and downstream 
        data transmission speeds. Each tier shall be designated, to the 
        extent possible, to correspond to the ability to support 
        qualitatively different applications and services, which the 
        Commission shall also identify.
            (3) Information collection.--The Commission shall collect 
        information from all commercial and public providers of 
        broadband service capability under its jurisdiction in each 
        State. Such information shall include, for each area 
        encompassed by a United States postal zip code of the 5 digit 
        level--
                    (A) information concerning deployment of the types 
                of technology used to provide broadband service 
                capability;
                    (B) the actual number of residential subscribers, 
                small business subscribers, and large business 
                subscribers in each such area, and for each tier 
                designated under paragraph (2); and
                    (C) the advertised data transmission speeds of 
                broadband service capability offered in each such area.
    (b) Evolution of Assessment.--The Commission shall periodically 
review both the bandwidth service tiers and the types of technology 
utilized in its assessment under subsection (a) to take into account 
changes in technology and marketplace conditions.
    (c) International Comparison.--
            (1) International comparison.--As part of the assessment 
        and report required by this section, the Commission shall 
        include information comparing the extent of broadband service 
        capability (including data transmission speeds and price for 
        broadband service capability) in a total of 75 communities in 
        at least 25 countries abroad for each of the tiers designated 
        pursuant to subsection (a)(2).
            (2) Contents.--The Commission shall choose communities for 
        the comparison under this subsection in a manner that will 
        offer, to the extent possible, communities of a population 
        size, population density, topography, and demographic profile 
        that are comparable to the population size, population density, 
        topography, and demographic profile of various communities 
        within the United States. The Commission shall include in the 
        comparison under this subsection--
                    (A) a geographically diverse selection of 
                countries; and
                    (B) communities including the capital cities of 
                such countries.
            (3) Similarities and differences.--The Commission shall 
        identify relevant similarities and differences in each 
        community, including their market structures, the number of 
        competitors, the number of facilities-based providers, the 
        types of technologies deployed by such providers, the 
        applications and services those technologies enable, and the 
        regulatory model under which broadband service capability is 
        provided.
    (d) Protection of Information.--Nothing in this section shall 
reduce or remove any obligation the Commission has to protect 
proprietary information, nor shall this section be construed to compel 
the Commission to make publicly available any proprietary information. 
Any information collected by the Commission pursuant to subsection 
(a)(3) that reveals business or marketing plans or any other 
competitively sensitive or proprietary information of a provider of 
broadband service capability, or that is not, in the normal course of 
business, known or shared by competing providers or made publicly 
available, shall not be disclosed by the Commission.
    (e) Regulations.--The Commission shall, within 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, promulgate regulations to implement 
this section.

SEC. 3. BROADBAND INVENTORY MAP.

    (a) Establishment.--To provide a comprehensive nationwide inventory 
of existing broadband service capability and infrastructure, the 
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the 
Department of Commerce and the NTIA shall develop and maintain a 
broadband inventory map of the United States that identifies and 
depicts the geographic extent to which broadband service capability is 
deployed and available from a commercial provider or public provider 
throughout each State.
    (b) Information Shown.--The broadband inventory map developed and 
maintained pursuant to this section shall be capable of identifying and 
depicting, nationwide, for each State, and for each county or parish of 
each State--
            (1) each area encompassed by a United States postal zip 
        code of 9 digit level, census tract level, or functional 
        equivalent in which broadband service capability is deployed at 
        that time, including--
                    (A) each commercial or public provider of broadband 
                service capability within such area;
                    (B) each type of technology used to provide 
                broadband service capability within such area; and
                    (C) which bandwidth service tiers are available 
                within such area for each provider of broadband service 
                capability; and
            (2) each area encompassed by a United States postal zip 
        code of 9 digit level, census tract level, or functional 
        equivalent in which broadband service capability is not 
        deployed at that time.
    (c) Data Use Encouraged.--The NTIA shall seek to overlay 
demographic data obtained from other sources in the Department of 
Commerce and elsewhere for use with such broadband inventory map.
    (d) Public Availability and Interactivity.--Not later than 2 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the NTIA shall make the 
broadband inventory map developed and maintained pursuant to this 
section accessible by the public on a World Wide Web site of the NTIA 
in a form that is interactive for users and searchable by each of the 
geographic areas specified in subsection (b).
    (e) Updating.--The NTIA shall update the broadband inventory map 
developed and maintained pursuant to this section to ensure that the 
information provided by the broadband inventory map is timely and 
accurate.
    (f) Obtaining Information.--
            (1) In general.--The NTIA shall request and obtain, from 
        the Commission, eligible entities under section 4, and 
        commercial and public providers of broadband service 
        capability, such information as may be necessary to carry out 
        this section.
            (2) Priority of information requests.--The NTIA shall first 
        request and obtain such information from the Commission or such 
        entities before requesting and obtaining such information from 
        commercial and public providers of broadband service 
        capability.
            (3) Compatible format.--Such entities or providers may 
        elect to provide the NTIA with the information necessary for 
        displaying a statewide map, provided that such map meets the 
        requirements of subsection (b) for that State and such 
        information is in a format that NTIA is able to incorporate 
        into the broadband inventory map required under this section.
    (g) Protection of Information.--Nothing in this section shall 
reduce or remove any obligation the NTIA has to protect proprietary 
information, nor shall this section be construed to compel the NTIA to 
make publicly available any proprietary information. Any information 
obtained by NTIA pursuant to subsection (f) that reveals business or 
marketing plans or any other competitively sensitive or proprietary 
information of a provider of broadband service capability, or that is 
not, in the normal course of business, known or shared by competing 
providers or made publicly available, shall not be disclosed by NTIA.

SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATES FOR BROADBAND MAP DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--The NTIA may, to the extent amounts are made 
available pursuant to section 9(b) for use under this section, make 
grants to an eligible entity to assist in providing the NTIA with 
information to facilitate the development of the broadband inventory 
map required under section 3.
    (b) State Entity Application and Designation.--An eligible entity 
in any State that seeks to obtain a grant under this section shall 
submit an application to the NTIA at such time, in such form, and 
containing such information and assurances as the NTIA may require.
    (c) Use.--Amounts from a grant under this section may be used only 
for costs involved in developing and obtaining information necessary to 
provide the broadband inventory map required under section 3.
    (d) Conditions.--
            (1) Information sharing.--As a condition of receipt of a 
        grant under this section, the eligible entity shall agree to 
        provide to the NTIA any information developed or obtained using 
        such grant amounts.
            (2) Matching requirement.--An eligible entity may not 
        obtain a grant under this section to carry out the activities 
        under this section unless such entity agrees to provide, from 
        non-Federal funds, an amount equal to not less than 20 percent 
        of the amount of the grant toward the costs of carrying out 
        such activities.
    (e) Grant Criteria.--The NTIA shall select an eligible entity to 
receive a grant under this section based upon criteria that shall 
include--
            (1) whether such entity requesting a grant is organized on 
        a statewide basis and prepared to develop information for use 
        by NTIA on a timely basis;
            (2) the extent to which financial support from State or 
        other sources is unavailable to such entity to fulfill the 
        objectives of this Act; and
            (3) whether the denial of such entity's grant request 
        would--
                    (A) result in the inability of such entity to 
                develop information on a timely or comprehensive basis; 
                and
                    (B) result in a gap in the information for that 
                State or otherwise thwart the objectives of this Act.
    (f) Subcontracts Permitted.--An eligible entity may enter into 
contracts to carry out subsection (c) and the other requirements of 
this section.
    (g) Eligible Entity.--For the purposes of this section, the term 
``eligible entity'' for any State means--
            (1) an entity that is either--
                    (A) an agency or instrumentality of that State, or 
                a municipality or other subdivision (or agency or 
                instrumentality of a municipality or other subdivision) 
                of that State; or
                    (B) a nonprofit organization that is described in 
                section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
                and that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) 
                of such Code; and
            (2) the entity is the single eligible entity in such State 
        that has been designated by the State to receive a grant under 
        this section.

SEC. 5. GRANTS FOR DEMAND-SIDE BROADBAND SERVICE IDENTIFICATION AND 
              ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) Grant Authority.--From the amounts appropriated under section 
9(c), the Secretary shall establish a grant program to create and 
facilitate the work of local technology planning entities that 
represent a broad cross-section of their community, including 
representatives of business, telecommunications labor organizations, 
consumer organizations, elementary and secondary education, health care 
providers, libraries, higher education, community-based organizations, 
and local government.
    (b) State Entity Application and Designation.--Each eligible 
planning entity in any State that seeks to obtain a grant under this 
section shall submit an application to the NTIA at such time, in such 
form, and containing such information and assurances as the NTIA may 
require. Such application shall contain a demonstration that--
            (1) the entity is an eligible planning entity; and
            (2) the eligible planning entity is the single eligible 
        planning entity in such State that has been designated by the 
        State for an exclusive geographic area within the State to 
        receive a grant under this section.
    (c) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded by the Secretary under this 
section shall be used to assist an eligible planning entity to--
            (1) assess the current use of broadband service capability 
        across relevant community sectors;
            (2) set goals for improving or maximizing such use within 
        each sector;
            (3) develop a plan for achieving the eligible planning 
        entity's goals, with specific recommendations for identifying 
        and spurring demand for such capability;
            (4) collaborate with providers of broadband service 
        capability and other high technology companies to encourage the 
        deployment and use of broadband service capability in unserved 
        and underserved areas;
            (5) identify local demand for broadband service capability 
        and aggregate such demand;
            (6) establish programs, but not acquire equipment or 
        facilities, to improve computer ownership and Internet access 
        for unserved and underserved populations; and
            (7) facilitate the exchange of information regarding the 
        use and demand for broadband service capability between the 
        public and private sectors.
    (d) Prohibition.--Funds made available by a grant under this 
section shall not be used for the provision of broadband service 
capability or the acquisition of equipment or facilities for such 
capability, except that this prohibition shall not prohibit an eligible 
planning entity's use of such funds to acquire broadband service 
capability or equipment or facilities for such capability for use by 
such entity in its own conduct of planning activities.
    (e) Eligible Planning Entity.--For the purposes of this section, 
the term ``eligible planning entity'' for any State means--
            (1) an agency or instrumentality of that State, or a 
        municipality or other subdivision (or agency or instrumentality 
        of a municipality or other subdivision) of that State; or
            (2) a nonprofit organization that is described in section 
        501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and that is 
        exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.

SEC. 6. CONSUMER SURVEY OF BROADBAND SERVICE CAPABILITY.

    (a) Authority.--The Commission shall conduct and make public 
periodic surveys of consumers of broadband service capability in urban, 
suburban, and rural areas in the large business, small business, and 
residential consumer markets to determine the following:
            (1) The type of technology used to provide the broadband 
        service capability to which the consumer subscribes.
            (2) The amount the consumer pays per month for such 
        capability.
            (3) The actual data transmission speeds of such capability.
            (4) The types of applications and services the consumer 
        most frequently uses in conjunction with such capability.
    (b) Public Availability.--The Commission shall make publicly 
available the results of surveys conducted under this section at least 
once per year.

SEC. 7. CONFIDENTIALITY OF CONSUMER INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--The Commission shall, within 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, promulgate regulations--
            (1) to protect the confidentiality of personal consumer 
        information collected for the purposes of this Act;
            (2) to require the Commission, the NTIA, and each other 
        entity that collects or controls such information for the 
        purposes of this Act (including any eligible entity under 
        section 4, eligible planning entity designated under section 
        5(b)(2), and commercial and public provider of broadband 
        service capability) to protect the confidentiality of such 
        information; and
            (3) to permit such information to be disclosed by such 
        entities only to the extent consistent with the provisions and 
        for the purposes of this Act, or with the prior express 
        authorization of the consumer to whom it pertains.
    (b) Limitation.--The regulations promulgated under subsection (a) 
shall not preclude the ability of any consumer or other person or 
entity to search, by individual street address, the broadband inventory 
map developed and maintained pursuant to section 3, or any of the 
individual State maps which may compose it.

SEC. 8. STATE OR LOCAL AUTHORITY.

    Except as provided in section 7, nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to expand or limit the authority of States or units of local 
government to compel the collection of information.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act--
            (1) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
            (2) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and
            (3) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
    (b) Broadband Map Information Development Grants.--Of any amounts 
appropriated in each fiscal year pursuant to subsection (a), not less 
than $8,000,000 shall be available only for grants under section 4.
    (c) Local Technology Planning Grants.--In addition to the amount 
appropriated under subsection (a), there is authorized to be 
appropriated to make grants under section 5--
            (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
            (2) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and
            (3) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.

SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall 
apply:
            (1) Broadband service capability.--The term ``broadband 
        service capability'' means an Internet Protocol-based 
        transmission service that enables users to send and receive 
        voice, video, data, graphics, or a combination, without regard 
        to any transmission media or technology.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (3) NTIA.--The term ``NTIA'' means the National 
        Telecommunications and Information Administration of the 
        Department of Commerce.
            (4) Personal consumer information.--The term ``personal 
        consumer information''--
                    (A) means information that allows a human being to 
                be identified individually;
                    (B) includes the following information with respect 
                to an individual:
                            (i) the first and last name;
                            (ii) a home or physical address;
                            (iii) a date or place of birth;
                            (iv) an email address or a telephone 
                        number;
                            (v) a Social Security account number, tax 
                        identification number, birth certificate 
                        number, passport number, driver's license 
                        number, or any other any government-issued 
                        identification number; or
                            (vi) a credit card number or bank account 
                        or card number; and
                    (C) does not include any record of aggregate 
                information that does not permit the identification of 
                particular individuals.
            (5) Provider.--
                    (A) Public provider.--The term ``public'' when used 
                with respect to a provider of broadband service 
                capability means a provider that is an agency or 
                instrumentality of a State, or a municipality or other 
                subdivision (or agency or instrumentality of a 
                municipality or other subdivision) of a State, 
                regardless of the facilities used.
                    (B) Commercial provider.--The term ``commercial'' 
                when used with respect to a provider of broadband 
                service capability means a provider that offers 
                broadband service capability for a fee, or on an 
                advertising-supported basis, directly to the public or 
                to such classes of users as to be effectively available 
                to the public, regardless of the facilities used.
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce.
            (7) State.--The term ``State'' means the States of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the 
        Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory and 
        possession of the United States.
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