[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9066 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9066

 To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
 Information to establish a pilot program to provide innovation grants 
    to established State broadband offices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 31, 2020

 Ms. Schrier (for herself and Mr. Budd) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
 Information to establish a pilot program to provide innovation grants 
    to established State broadband offices, 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 ``State Broadband Office Innovation 
Pilot Act''.

SEC. 2. INNOVATION PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--
            (1) Requirements.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall 
        establish a pilot program to provide grants to eligible State 
        broadband offices for new projects to increase broadband 
        connectivity, accelerate deployment of broadband, or establish 
        affordable broadband access to underserved populations that 
        includes any of the following:
                    (A) Mapping and data collection of areas of 
                connectivity, underserved areas, and unserved areas to 
                improve efforts to map, collect data, and supplement 
                ongoing efforts.
                    (B) Planning and program evaluation of broadband to 
                establish or incentivize affordable options.
                    (C) Engaging unserved or underserved farms for the 
                purpose of enabling precision agriculture or other 
                purposes.
                    (D) A project that makes networks more reliable and 
                resilient to natural disasters.
                    (E) Any State, local, or Tribal project that 
                engages in creative solutions to ensure more 
                underserved populations have access to affordable, 
                high-quality broadband and a latency that is 
                sufficiently low to allow real-time, interactive 
                applications.
            (2) Partnerships.--An eligible State broadband office may 
        engage in partnerships with public, private, or other entities 
        (including public utilities districts) in a project described 
        under paragraph (1).
    (b) Source of Funding.--Any grant made under this section shall be 
in addition to any other grant made by the Federal Government and shall 
not be a violation of any other grant requirement restricting or 
prohibiting the Federal Government as a source of funding.
    (c) Public Outreach.--The Assistant Secretary--
            (1) shall notify the public about the pilot program under 
        this section by--
                    (A) publishing a description of the program, 
                including when and how to apply, on the NTIA website; 
                and
                    (B) disseminating such description through social 
                media or other means; and
            (2) shall notify State broadband offices and offer those 
        offices technical assistance for applying for a grant under 
        this section.
    (d) Application and Deadline To Apply.--To be eligible to 
participate in the pilot program under this section, an eligible State 
broadband office shall submit to the Assistant Secretary an application 
that describes how any funds granted will be used, in such a form and 
in such a manner as the Assistant Secretary may require not later than 
60 days after the date on which the program is established pursuant to 
subsection (a).
    (e) Disbursement of Funds.--Not later than 5 months after the date 
on which the program is established pursuant to subsection (a), the 
Assistant Secretary shall disburse funds to those eligible State 
broadband offices selected by the Assistant Secretary to receive grants 
under this section.
    (f) Report Required.--
            (1) Project establishment and first year report.--Not later 
        than 1 year after the receipt of any grant made under this 
        section, the eligible State broadband office shall commit funds 
        for any project funded with the grant and submit to the 
        Assistant Secretary a report that includes the following:
                    (A) An accounting of how grant funds were used.
                    (B) A summary of--
                            (i) the completed project; or
                            (ii) progress made on the project and a 
                        detailed timeline for completion.
                    (C) A description of whether the project was 
                successful, including if goals were met, and the 
                following information, if applicable:
                            (i) The number of previously underserved or 
                        unserved households now served.
                            (ii) The percentage of households in State 
                        connected to broadband.
                            (iii) Any project improvements that would 
                        increase the affordability of broadband.
                    (D) Any recommendations for further improvements on 
                the project.
            (2) Report on completion.--With regard to any project not 
        completed by the submission of the report required pursuant to 
        paragraph (1), not later than 30 days after the date on which 
        the project is completed, the eligible State broadband office 
        shall submit to the Assistant Secretary a report that includes 
        the information described under subparagraphs (A), (B)(i), (C), 
        and (D).
    (g) Transparency, Accountability, and Oversight Required.--
            (1) In general.--In implementing this section, the 
        Assistant Secretary shall adopt measures to ensure sufficient 
        transparency, accountability, and oversight to provide the 
        public with information regarding the award and use of grant 
        funds under this section, and to deter waste, fraud, and abuse 
        of grant funds.
            (2) Review of report.--The Assistant Secretary shall review 
        any report submitted pursuant to subsection (e) and consider 
        any new ideas from those reports for future NTIA projects.
            (3) Request for information.--The recipient of any grant 
        made under this section shall respond to any request made by 
        the Assistant Secretary for more information or documentation 
        related to the project funded through the grant.
            (4) Misuse of funds.--The Assistant Secretary may prohibit 
        any grant recipient from other grants made by NTIA if the 
        Assistant Secretary determines there has been a misuse of funds 
        under this section.
            (5) Recovery of unauthorized use of funds.--To the extent 
        that the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce 
        determines that an eligible entity expended grant funds 
        received under this section in violation of this section, the 
        Assistant Secretary shall recover the amount of funds that were 
        so expended.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Assistant Secretary to carry out this section 
$50,000,000 for the fiscal year in which grants are disbursed pursuant 
to subsection (d). Funds shall remain available until expended.
    (i) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
        means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 
        and Information.
            (2) Broadband.--The term ``broadband'' has the meaning 
        given the term ``broadband internet access service'' in section 
        8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 
        successor regulation.
            (3) Eligible state broadband office.--The term ``eligible 
        State broadband office'' means an office located in a State 
        with at least one employee whose salary is funded with State 
        resources and whose primary focus is broadband build out and 
        monitoring.
            (4) NTIA.--The term ``NTIA'' means the National 
        Telecommunications and Information Administration.
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