I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 55 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission to conduct an annual inquiry on the availability of 

advanced telecommunications capability in broadband deserts, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the 

Federal Communications Commission to conduct an annual inquiry on the availability of advanced telecommunications capability in broadband deserts, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Connecting Broadband 

5 Deserts Act of 2019’’. 


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•HR 55 IH

1 SEC. 2. ANNUAL INQUIRY ON DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED 

2 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY IN 

3 BROADBAND DESERTS. 

4 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

5 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 14. ANNUAL INQUIRY ON DEPLOYMENT OF AD8 VANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY 

9 IN BROADBAND DESERTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall, not later 

11 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, 

12 and annually thereafter, initiate a notice of inquiry con13 cerning the availability of advanced telecommunications 

14 capability in broadband deserts and shall complete the in15 quiry not later than 180 days after its initiation. In the 

16 inquiry, the Commission shall determine whether ad17 vanced telecommunications capability is being deployed in 

18 broadband deserts in a reasonable and timely fashion, in19 cluding the extent to which digital redlining is occurring. 

20 If the Commission determines that advanced telecommuni21 cations capability is not being deployed in broadband 

22 deserts in a reasonable and timely fashion, it shall take 

23 immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capa24 bility in broadband deserts by removing barriers to infra25 structure investment and by promoting competition in the 

26 telecommunications market. 


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•HR 55 IH

1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPA3 BILITY.—The term ‘advanced telecommunications 

4 capability’ has the meaning given such term in sec5 tion 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 

6 U.S.C. 1302). 

7 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND DESERT.—The term 

8 ‘broadband desert’ means a census block— 

9 ‘‘(A) that is located in an urban area; and 

10 ‘‘(B) in which fewer than 33 percent of 

11 end-user premises (as defined by the Commis12 sion for purposes of Form 477) do not have ac13 cess to advanced telecommunications capability. 

14 ‘‘(3) DIGITAL REDLINING.—The term ‘digital 

15 redlining’ means a practice whereby a provider of 

16 advanced telecommunications capability excludes cer17 tain areas when expanding or upgrading service due 

18 to income or other reasons. 

19 ‘‘(4) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘urban area’ 

20 means an urbanized area or urban cluster area with 

21 a population equal to or greater than 25,000, as de22 termined by the most recent rural-urban classifica23 tion by the Bureau of the Census.’’. 

Æ 


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