[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1144 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1144

  Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all Americans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 2020

   Ms. Haaland (for herself and Mr. Khanna) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all Americans.

Whereas, in 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution 
        affirming that the same rights people have offline must be protected 
        online and called for countries to promote and facilitate access to the 
        internet to develop knowledgeable societies with the realization of the 
        right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of peaceful 
        assembly and association, and the right to education;
Whereas the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the freedom of speech 
        and expression for all persons, and the Supreme Court has ruled that 
        speech and expression on the internet is included in such protections;
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published the National 
        Broadband Plan in 2010 to bring broadband to all Americans but, as of 
        2020, 22.3 percent of Americans living in rural areas lacked access to 
        fixed broadband services, compared to only 1.5 percent of Americans 
        living in urban areas;
Whereas digital divides contribute to and exacerbate poverty and inequality in 
        modern society by prohibiting equal access to public services, 
        employment opportunities, educational resources, basic liberties, and 
        fundamental rights guaranteed to all Americans;
Whereas, in April 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services found that 
        more than 1 in 6 people with incomes below the Federal poverty level had 
        no access to the internet, and 18 percent of people with incomes below 
        100 percent of the Federal poverty level lacked internet access, 
        compared to only 3 percent of people with incomes at or above 400 
        percent of the Federal poverty level;
Whereas, in 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that only 65 
        percent of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians living 
        on Tribal lands had access to fixed broadband services, and only 69 
        percent of households on Tribal lands have telephone services;
Whereas the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) estimates that up to 95 percent of 
        students attending BIE facilities lack residential internet services 
        during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas the GAO has further found that FCC data has overstated statistics 
        relating to broadband availability and digital access on Tribal lands in 
        the United States;
Whereas the 2017 statistics of the National Center for Education Statistics in 
        the Department of Education showed that 34.1 percent of all higher 
        education students engage in some form of online education courses, a 
        5.7-percent increase in enrollment in online higher education from the 
        previous year;
Whereas the percentage of students enrolled in online education courses 
        significantly increased during the pandemic and educational 
        administrators have made remote and online learning for the 2020-2021 
        academic year available to avoid public health risks;
Whereas increased access to broadband promotes economic competition, 
        entrepreneurship, and efficiency;
Whereas the World Bank found that every 10 percent increase in fixed broadband 
        penetration accelerates economic growth by 1.21 percent in developed 
        economies and 1.38 percent in developing economies;
Whereas counties with higher rates of broadband availability have lower 
        unemployment rates, and broadband helps service industry businesses 
        overcome geographic barriers that have traditionally hampered rural 
        growth;
Whereas the American Medical Informatics Association and other public health 
        experts have called access to wireless broadband services a social 
        determinant of health;
Whereas data from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census 
        shows that approximately 5,000,000 households with school-age children 
        do not have high-speed internet access at home, with a disproportionate 
        share being low-income African-American or Hispanic/Latino households, 
        and low-income households are 4 times more likely than middle- or high-
        income households to lack broadband access;
Whereas the United States is a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of 
        Persons with Disabilities, which calls on countries to take appropriate 
        measures to promote access for persons with disabilities to new 
        information and communication technology and systems, which can only be 
        achieved through continued access to communication technologies; and
Whereas intentional disruptions of internet access have been used in countries 
        across the globe to crack down on human rights, limit communication, and 
        harm freedom of association: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Broadband for All Resolution 
of 2020''.

SEC. 2. RECOGNIZING BROADBAND AS A HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHT FOR ALL 
              AMERICANS.

    The House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes that equal access to affordable and reliable 
        fixed broadband services for all Americans is a civil and human 
        right that protects and promotes the fair, equal, and impartial 
        treatment of all people regardless of race, sex, nationality, 
        ethnicity, language, religion, economic status, or any other 
        status;
            (2) asserts that affordable access to broadband enables the 
        promotion and propagation of human rights, including equal 
        access to information, government services, use of public 
        facilities, freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression, 
        freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the right to 
        education;
            (3) recognizes that affordable access to broadband promotes 
        equal access for engagement in our democracy and the exercise 
        of constitutionally vested rights;
            (4) reaffirms the global and open nature of the internet as 
        a driving force in accelerating progress toward development in 
        its various forms, including achieving the Sustainable 
        Development Goals of the United Nations;
            (5) acknowledges that the human right to affordable access 
        to broadband may only be limited or restricted if such 
        restriction is provided for by law and is nondiscriminatory, 
        necessary, and proportionate to a legitimate purpose, such as 
        to protect the rights of others, national security, or to 
        protect public order or health; and
            (6) calls on the President--
                    (A) to preserve and build upon the technological 
                leadership of the Federal Government and Federal 
                funding opportunities for all Americans to affordable 
                access to fixed broadband services and infrastructure 
                development to bridge the digital divide, especially 
                for low-income households and households with incomes 
                below the Federal poverty line;
                    (B) to preserve and build upon the technological 
                leadership of the Federal Government and Federal 
                funding opportunities for fixed broadband expansion and 
                infrastructure development, especially in rural areas 
                and on Tribal lands, and in broadband deserts;
                    (C) to ensure that Tribal sovereignty over access 
                to electromagnetic spectrum on Tribal lands is 
                protected as part of the Federal trust responsibility 
                in furtherance of Tribal self-governance; and
                    (D) to further address the threat posed by lack of 
                affordable access to broadband to the civil and human 
                rights of all Americans, especially since the COVID-19 
                pandemic has further highlighted the growing digital 
                divide in the United States.
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