Rural Broadband Acceleration Act.

Rural Broadband Acceleration Act

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to modify the framework for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and it establishes a deadline for the FCC to create broadband service maps.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7022 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7022

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions 
 to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 27, 2020

Mr. Clyburn (for himself and Mr. Upton) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions 
 to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, 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 ``Rural Broadband Acceleration Act.''

SEC. 2. ACCELERATION OF RURAL DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY FUND PHASE I AUCTION.

    With respect to the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction 
(in this section referred to as the ``auction'') provided for in the 
Report and Order in the matter of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and 
Connect America Fund adopted by the Federal Communications Commission 
(in this section referred to as the ``Commission'') on January 30, 2020 
(FCC 20-5), the Commission shall modify the framework for the auction 
adopted in such Report and Order as follows:
            (1) The Commission shall begin accepting long-form 
        applications before the auction, not later than the earlier of 
        the date that is 30 days after the date on which the Commission 
        begins accepting short-form applications or July 31, 2020, from 
        such applicants as are willing to commit to the schedule 
        described in paragraph (3)(B) for deployment of networks 
        capable of providing symmetrical Gigabit performance service.
            (2) If the long-form applications accepted pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) indicate that, for any census block or census 
        block group identified in the Preliminary List of Eligible 
        Areas released by the Commission on March 17, 2020, there is 
        only 1 qualified applicant willing to commit to provide 
        symmetrical Gigabit performance service pursuant to the 
        schedule described in paragraph (3)(B), the Commission shall, 
        not later than the earlier of September 30, 2020, or 30 days 
        before the start of the auction--
                    (A) award to such applicant Rural Digital 
                Opportunity Fund Phase I support for such census block 
                or census block group, at 100 percent of the reserve 
                price (in this paragraph referred to as the ``award'');
                    (B) remove such census block or census block group 
                from the auction; and
                    (C) reduce the budget for the auction by 75 percent 
                of the amount of the award and reduce the budget for 
                the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction 
                provided for in such Report and Order by 25 percent of 
                the amount of the award.
            (3) The Commission shall require an applicant submitting a 
        long-form application pursuant to paragraph (1) to--
                    (A) not later than 30 days after the date on which 
                such applicant submits such long-form application, 
                provide a letter of commitment from a bank meeting the 
                Commission's eligibility requirements stating that the 
                bank would provide a letter of credit to such applicant 
                if such applicant becomes a winning bidder and is 
                awarded support; and
                    (B) commit to--
                            (i) begin construction not later than 6 
                        months following funding authorization; and
                            (ii) begin to make service available not 
                        later than 1 year following funding 
                        authorization.
            (4) If an applicant to which an award of support has been 
        made under paragraph (2)(A) for a census block or census block 
        group fails to meet the requirements of paragraph (3) with 
        respect to such award of support, the Commission shall revoke 
        such award of support and include such census block or census 
        block group for competitive bidding in the Rural Digital 
        Opportunity Fund Phase II auction provided for in such Report 
        and Order.
            (5) The Commission shall require an applicant to which an 
        award of support has been made under paragraph (2)(A) to meet 
        the deployment schedule to which the applicant committed under 
        paragraph (3)(B).

SEC. 3. ENSURING THE FCC CREATES ACCURATE SERVICE MAPS.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Title VIII of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 641 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 807. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is authorized to be appropriated to the Commission to carry 
out this title--
            ``(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and
            ``(2) $9,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 
        2027.''.
    (b) Deadline for Creation of Maps.--Section 802(c)(1) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 642(c)(1)) is amended by striking 
``create'' and inserting ``create, not later than October 1, 2020''.
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