117 S1460 IS: Community Broadband Act of 2021 U.S. Senate 2021-04-29 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II117th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 1460IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESApril 29, 2021Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. King, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sanders, and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and TransportationA BILLTo amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to provide broadband services.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Community Broadband Act of 2021.

2.

State, local, public-private partnership, and co-op broadband services

Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amended—(1)by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e);(2)by inserting after subsection (c) the following:(d)

State, local, public-Private partnership, and co-Op advanced telecommunications capability and services

(1)

In general

No statute, regulation, or other legal requirement of a State may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting any public provider, public-private partnership provider, or cooperatively organized provider from providing, to any person or public or private entity, advanced telecommunications capability or any service that utilizes the advanced telecommunications capability provided by that provider.(2)

Antidiscrimination safeguards

(A)

Public providers

To the extent any public provider regulates competing private providers of advanced telecommunications capability or services that utilize advanced telecommunications capability, the public provider shall apply its ordinances and rules without discrimination in favor of—(i)the public provider; or(ii)any entity owned by the public provider that provides services that utilize advanced telecommunications capability.(B)

Public-private partnership providers

To the extent any State or local entity that is part of a public-private partnership provider regulates competing private providers of advanced telecommunications capability or services that utilize advanced telecommunications capability, the State or local entity shall apply its ordinances and rules without discrimination in favor of—(i)the public-private partnership provider; or(ii)any entity owned by the State or local entity or public-private partnership provider that provides services that utilize advanced telecommunications capability.(3)

Savings clause

Nothing in this subsection shall exempt a public provider, public-private partnership provider, or cooperatively organized 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(3)in subsection (e), as redesignated—(A)in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking this subsection and inserting this section;(B)by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);(C)by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:(2)

Cooperatively organized provider

The term cooperatively organized provider means an entity that is treated as a cooperative under Federal tax law and that provides advanced te­le­com­mu­ni­ca­tions capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced telecommunications capability, to any person or public or private entity.; and(D)by adding at the end the following:(4)

Public provider

The term public provider means a State or local entity that provides advanced telecommunications capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced telecommunications capability, to any person or public or private entity.(5)

Public-private partnership provider

The term public-private partnership provider means a public-private partnership, between a State or local entity and a private entity, that provides advanced telecommunications capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced telecommunications capability, to any person or public or private entity.(6)

State or local entity

The term State or local entity means—(A)a State or political subdivision thereof;(B)any agency, authority, or instrumentality of a State or political subdivision thereof; or(C)an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)))..