HR 4122 IH
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4122
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to encourage broadband
deployment to rural America, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 2000
Mr. STUPAK (for himself and Mr. POMEROY) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on
Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to encourage broadband
deployment to rural America, 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 Enhancement Act'.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FROM UNIVERSAL
SERVICE FUND.
Section 254(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(e)) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating so much of the text of such subsection as follows
`(e) UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT- ' as paragraph (1);
(2) by inserting before `After' the following heading: `(1) IN
GENERAL.'; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
`(2) RURAL AREA BROADBAND SUPPORT- In addition to any other support
provided under paragraph (1), the Commission shall, within 90 days after the
date of enactment of the Rural Broadband Enhancement Act, initiate a
proceeding to provide Federal universal service support for the deployment
of broadband service (as defined in section 156(e)(1) of the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act) to
eligible rural communities (as defined in section 156(e)(2) of that Act).
The proceeding shall be completed within 240 days. Federal universal service
support provided as a result of that proceeding shall be determined without
cost averaging of any above-average cost areas with any lower cost areas,
such as would occur in statewide or study averaging, and may be used for the
deployment of--
`(A) loop treatment and digital subscriber line access
multiplexers;
`(C) wireless technology; and
`(D) satellite technology.'.
SEC. 3. RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE LOAN PROGRAM.
Part C of title I of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended by adding
at the end thereof the following:
`SEC. 156. BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.
`(a) IN GENERAL- The Rural Utilities Service of the Department of
Agriculture, after consultation with the NTIA, shall make loans or other
extensions of credit to companies certified as eligible telecommunications
carriers providers, or that accept the obligations of an eligible
telecommunications carrier, in accordance with the provisions of this section
to finance the deployment of broadband telecommunications services to eligible
rural communities.
`(b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS- To be eligible for a loan or other
extension of credit under this section, a project shall--
`(1) be capable of delivering broadband service;
`(2) be for the purpose of making access to broadband service available
to an eligible rural community where broadband service is not otherwise
generally available throughout that community; and
`(3) be subject to the standards for service and area wide coverage
applicable to other projects administered by the Rural Utilities
Service.
`(c) TERMS AND CONDITIONS- Loans made under this section--
`(1) shall be made available in accordance with the requirements of the
Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661);
`(2) shall bear interest at an annual rate of not more than 2 percent
per annum; and
`(3) shall be made for the longer of--
`(A) a term of 30 years; or
`(B) the useful life of the assets constructed, reconstructed, or
acquired.
`(1) TECHNOLOGY NEUTRALITY- In making loans under this section, the
Rural Utilities Service may not take into consideration the technology
proposed to be employed.
`(2) SECURITY INTEREST- The Rural Utilities Service may take a security
interest in assets or revenue streams, in connection with a loan or other
extension of credit made under this section, of not more than the amount
sufficient to cover the assets financed by that loan or extension of
credit.
`(e) DEFINITIONS- In this section:
`(1) BROADBAND SERVICE- The term `broadband service' includes, without
regard to any particular transmission medium or technology, high-speed,
switched, broadband telecommunications capable of delivering not less than
1.0 megabits of data per second to the user and 0.5 megabits of data per
second from the user that enables users to originate and receive
high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications. The
Commission shall, from time-to-time as circumstances warrant, revise the
rate-of-data-transmission criteria stated in the preceding sentence upward
to reflect technological advances, and the criteria, as so revised, shall be
applied under the preceding sentence in lieu of the
rate-of-data-transmission criteria stated or previously revised by the
Commission under this sentence.
`(2) ELIGIBLE RURAL COMMUNITY- The term `eligible rural community' means
any incorporated or unincorporated place that--
`(A) has not more than 20,000 inhabitants, based on the most recent
available population statistics of the Bureau of the Census; and
`(B) is not located in an area designated as a Metropolitan Area by
the Office of Management and Budget.'.
SEC. 4. FUNDING.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture to
carry out the provisions of section 156 of the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration Organization Act $3,000,000,000 for fiscal years
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, through 2005, such amount to remain available until
expended.
END