[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 55 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 55

     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal 
     Communications Commission to conduct an annual inquiry on the 
  availability of advanced telecommunications capability in broadband 
                    deserts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2019

   Mr. Rush introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal 
     Communications Commission to conduct an annual inquiry on the 
  availability of advanced telecommunications capability in broadband 
                    deserts, 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 ``Connecting Broadband Deserts Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL INQUIRY ON DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
              CAPABILITY IN BROADBAND DESERTS.

    Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 14. ANNUAL INQUIRY ON DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
              CAPABILITY IN BROADBAND DESERTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Commission shall, not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually 
thereafter, initiate a notice of inquiry concerning the availability of 
advanced telecommunications capability in broadband deserts and shall 
complete the inquiry not later than 180 days after its initiation. In 
the inquiry, the Commission shall determine whether advanced 
telecommunications capability is being deployed in broadband deserts in 
a reasonable and timely fashion, including the extent to which digital 
redlining is occurring. If the Commission determines that advanced 
telecommunications capability is not being deployed in broadband 
deserts in a reasonable and timely fashion, it shall take immediate 
action to accelerate deployment of such capability in broadband deserts 
by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting 
competition in the telecommunications market.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Advanced telecommunications capability.--The term 
        `advanced telecommunications capability' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 
        (47 U.S.C. 1302).
            ``(2) Broadband desert.--The term `broadband desert' means 
        a census block--
                    ``(A) that is located in an urban area; and
                    ``(B) in which fewer than 33 percent of end-user 
                premises (as defined by the Commission for purposes of 
                Form 477) do not have access to advanced 
                telecommunications capability.
            ``(3) Digital redlining.--The term `digital redlining' 
        means a practice whereby a provider of advanced 
        telecommunications capability excludes certain areas when 
        expanding or upgrading service due to income or other reasons.
            ``(4) Urban area.--The term `urban area' means an urbanized 
        area or urban cluster area with a population equal to or 
        greater than 25,000, as determined by the most recent rural-
        urban classification by the Bureau of the Census.''.
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