[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4596 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4596


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2016

    Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To ensure that small business providers of broadband Internet access 
   service can devote resources to broadband deployment rather than 
          compliance with cumbersome regulatory requirements.

    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 ``Small Business Broadband Deployment 
Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO ENHANCEMENT TO TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL 
              BUSINESSES.

    (a) In General.--The enhancements to the transparency rule of the 
Federal Communications Commission under section 8.3 of title 47, Code 
of Federal Regulations, as described in paragraphs 162 through 184 of 
the Report and Order on Remand, Declaratory Ruling, and Order of the 
Federal Communications Commission with regard to protecting and 
promoting the open Internet (adopted February 26, 2015) (FCC 15-24), 
shall not apply to any small business.
    (b) Sunset.--Subsection (a) shall not have any force or effect 
after the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
    (c) Report by FCC.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 
submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate a report that contains the recommendations 
of the Commission (and data supporting such recommendations) 
regarding--
            (1) whether the exception provided by subsection (a) should 
        be made permanent; and
            (2) whether the definition of the term ``small business'' 
        for purposes of such exception should be modified from the 
        definition in subsection (d)(2).
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Broadband internet access service.--The term 
        ``broadband Internet access service'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 8.2 of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations.
            (2) Small business.--The term ``small business'' means any 
        provider of broadband Internet access service that has not more 
        than 250,000 subscribers.

            Passed the House of Representatives March 16, 2016.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.