[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6013 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6013

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the 
   ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and 
                               services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 13, 2016

  Ms. Eshoo introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the 
   ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and 
                               services.

    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 ``Community Broadband Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. COMMUNITY BROADBAND CAPABILITY AND SERVICES.

    Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e) and 
        inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d) Local Government Provision of Advanced Telecommunications 
Capability and Services.--
            ``(1) In general.--No State statute, regulation, or other 
        State legal requirement may prohibit or have the effect of 
        prohibiting any public provider from providing, to any person 
        or any public or private entity, advanced telecommunications 
        capability or any service that utilizes the advanced 
        telecommunications capability provided by such provider.
            ``(2) Antidiscrimination safeguards.--To the extent any 
        public provider regulates competing private providers of 
        advanced telecommunications capability or services that utilize 
        advanced telecommunications capability, it shall apply its 
        ordinances and rules without discrimination in favor of itself 
        or any provider that it owns of services that utilize advanced 
        telecommunications capability.
            ``(3) Savings clause.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        exempt a public provider from any Federal or State 
        telecommunications law or regulation that applies to all 
        providers of advanced telecommunications capability or services 
        that utilize such advanced telecommunications capability.''; 
        and
            (2) in subsection (e), as redesignated--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``this subsection'' and inserting ``this 
                section''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) 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 an Indian tribe (as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian 
        Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
        5304(e))), that provides advanced telecommunications 
        capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced 
        telecommunications capability, to any person or public or 
        private entity.''.
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