II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 698 

To establish a pilot program through which the Institute of Museum and 

Library Services shall allocate funds to States for the provision of internet-connected devices to libraries. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. MANCHIN (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. TESTER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. KING, 

Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. WARNER, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot program through which the Institute 

of Museum and Library Services shall allocate funds 

to States for the provision of internet-connected devices 

to libraries. 

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 ‘‘Hotspots and Online 

5 Technology and Services Procurement for Our Tribes and 

6 States Act’’ or the ‘‘HOTSPOTS Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. INTERNET HOTSPOT PILOT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘li3 brary’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State library administrative agen4 cy’’ have the meanings given those terms in section 213 

5 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 

6 9122). 

7 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 days after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

10 the Institute of Museum and Library Services (re11 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Director’’) shall es12 tablish a 2-year pilot program, through which the 

13 Director shall— 

14 (A) reserve 2.5 percent of the amounts ap15 propriated to carry out this section to make 

16 grants to Indian Tribes and to organizations 

17 that primarily serve and represent Native Ha18 waiians (as the term is defined in section 6207 

19 of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (20 

20 U.S.C. 7517)) to enable such Tribes and orga21 nizations to carry out the activities described in 

22 subsection (e); and 

23 (B) allocate grant funds to States in ac24 cordance with paragraph (2) to enable States, 

25 through the State library administrative agency, 

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1 as appropriate, to carry out the activities de2 scribed in subsection (e). 

3 (2) ALLOTMENTS TO STATES.— 

4 (A) MINIMUM ALLOTMENTS.— 

5 (i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

6 this paragraph, the minimum allotment for 

7 each State shall be $2,000,000, except that 

8 the minimum allotment shall be $200,000 

9 in the case of the United States Virgin Is10 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com11 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Is12 lands, the Republic of the Marshall Is13 lands, the Federated States of Micronesia, 

14 and the Republic of Palau. 

15 (ii) RATABLE REDUCTION.—Notwith16 standing clause (i), if the sum appro17 priated to carry out this section is insuffi18 cient to fully satisfy the requirement of 

19 clause (i), each of the minimum allotments 

20 under such clause shall be reduced ratably. 

21 (B) REMAINDER.— 

22 (i) IN GENERAL.—From the remain23 der of any sums made available to carry 

24 out this section and not reserved or allot25 ted under subparagraph (A), the Director 

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1 shall award grants to each State in an 

2 amount that bears the same relation to 

3 such remainder as the population of the 

4 State bears to the population of all States. 

5 (ii) DATA.—The population of each 

6 State and of all the States shall be deter7 mined by the Director on the basis of the 

8 most recent data available from the Bu9 reau of the Census. 

10 (c) GRANTS, CONTRACTS, OR COOPERATIVE AGREE11 MENTS.—From amounts appropriated under subsection 

12 (f), $2,000,000 shall be made available for the Director 

13 of the Institute of Museum and Library Services for 

14 grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with Federal 

15 agencies, public and private organizations, and other enti16 ties determined to be eligible by the Director to enable 

17 those agencies, organizations, and entities to carry out the 

18 activities described in subsection (e). 

19 (d) GRANTS FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—An Indian Tribe 

20 or organization described in subsection (b)(1)(A) that is 

21 eligible for support under section 261 of the Library Serv22 ices and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9161) may designate 

23 a Tribal library or Tribal library consortium as a library 

24 or consortium that is eligible for grant funds under this 

25 section, without regard to whether the library or library 

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1 consortium is eligible for assistance from a State Library 

2 Administrative Agency under the Library Services and 

3 Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9121 et seq.), if the library 

4 or library consortium is eligible for support from an In5 dian Tribe or organization described in subsection 

6 (b)(1)(A) under such section 261. 

7 (e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—Each State, Indian 

8 Tribe, or other entity receiving a grant, contract, or coop9 erative agreement under this section shall use funding 

10 under this section to— 

11 (1) expand digital network access by purchasing 

12 and distributing internet-connected devices, such as 

13 hotspots, to libraries in low-income and rural areas 

14 so that those libraries can— 

15 (A) allow individuals to borrow internet16 connected devices for home use; and 

17 (B) install or upgrade public Wi-Fi access 

18 points for use on or near library grounds, in19 cluding modems, routers, items that combine a 

20 modem and a router, and other equipment that 

21 might be needed to support increased 

22 broadband capacity; 

23 (2) provide libraries with funds to pay the other 

24 expenses associated with such devices and related 

25 services, such as processing, training, associated 

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1 connectivity, hardware and support, and other nec2 essary expenses related to the retention of these de3 vices and provision of these services; or 

4 (3) encourage existing and new partnerships be5 tween State and local governments, libraries, non6 profit entities, agencies including the Federal Com7 munications Commission, and telecommunication, 

8 broadband, and internet service providers to coordi9 nate the distribution of hotspots and other internet10 connected devices and services. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $200,000,000. 

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