1.This Act may be cited as the
Connect The Nation
Act
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The deployment
and adoption of broadband services 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 services and information technology for the residents and
businesses of the Nation.
3.Encouraging
State initiatives to improve broadband
(a)The
purposes of any grant under subsection (b) 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 services and information technology
investment.
(b)Establishment
of State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program
(1)The Secretary of Commerce 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
services within each State.
(2)Any grant under subsection (b) shall be awarded on a
competitive basis.
(c)To
be eligible to receive a grant under subsection (b), an eligible entity
shall—
(1)submit an
application to the Secretary of Commerce, at such time, in such manner, and
containing such information as the Secretary may require; and
(2)contribute
matching non-Federal funds in an amount equal to not less than 20 percent of
the total amount of the grant.
(d)
(1)The Secretary shall by regulation require appropriate
technical and scientific peer review of applications made for grants under this
section.
(2)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 of Commerce; 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)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 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)benchmark
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 its 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 services
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)For each State, an eligible entity may not receive a new
grant under this section to fund the activities described in subsection (d)
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)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 of Commerce.
(h)In
this section:
(1)The term eligible entity means a non-profit
organization 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 services within each State.
(2)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;
(B)no part of the
net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any member, founder,
contributor, or individual;
(C)that has an
established competency and proven record of working with public and private
sectors to accomplish widescale deployment and adoption of broadband services
and information technology; and
(D)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)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 200,000 bits per second, or
any successor transmission-rate established by the Federal Communications
Commission, in at least 1 direction.
(i)Authorization
of AppropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through
2012.
(j)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 services or
information technology.