I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1685 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reform and modernize the 

Universal Service Fund Lifeline Assistance Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2013 

Ms. MATSUI (for herself, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. BUTTERFIELD) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reform and 

modernize the Universal Service Fund Lifeline Assistance 

Program. 

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 ‘‘Broadband Adoption 

5 Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

7 Section 254(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 

8 (47 U.S.C. 254(j)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 

2 Nothing in this’’ and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this’’; and 

5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PRO7 GRAM.— 

8 ‘‘(A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this para9 graph is to promote the adoption of broadband 

10 service by all people of the United States while 

11 recognizing that the price of broadband service 

12 is one of the barriers to adoption for low in13 come households. 

14 ‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 

16 270 days after the date of enactment of 

17 the Broadband Adoption Act of 2013, the 

18 Commission shall adopt a final rule estab19 lishing Lifeline program support for 

20 broadband that enables qualifying low-in21 come customers residing in urban and 

22 rural areas to purchase broadband service 

23 at reduced charges by reimbursing pro24 viders who elect to participate in the pro25 gram for each such customer served. The 


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1 Commission shall consider the results of 

2 the Low-Income Broadband Pilot Program 

3 when establishing such final rule. 

4 ‘‘(ii) MODEL.—Such program shall be 

5 similar in structure to the Lifeline pro6 gram for basic telephone service under 

7 subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code of 

8 Federal Regulations. Qualifying individuals 

9 may elect to apply support from the Life10 line program to basic telephone service, 

11 voice telephony service, or broadband serv12 ice, whether each service is purchased 

13 stand-alone or in a bundle. 

14 ‘‘(iii) DIGITAL LITERACY PROGRAM.— 

15 The Commission shall consider providing a 

16 preference to participating broadband serv17 ice providers that include components in18 volving digital literacy programs as part of 

19 their offerings. 

20 ‘‘(C) STATE MATCHING FUNDS.—The 

21 Commission may determine, in consultation 

22 with the Federal-State Joint Board instituted 

23 under subsection (a)(1), whether State match24 ing funds may be provided as a condition of eliVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:25 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685

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1 gibility for low-income households within such 

2 State. 

3 ‘‘(D) AMOUNT OF SUPPORT.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, 

5 in calculating the amount of Lifeline sup6 port to be provided to each low-income 

7 household, shall routinely study the pre8 vailing market price for broadband service 

9 and the prevailing speed of broadband 

10 service adopted by households. 

11 ‘‘(ii) INFORMATION.—To fulfill the re12 quirement under clause (i), the Commis13 sion shall rely on information that it rou14 tinely collects or that is publicly available. 

15 ‘‘(E) TECHNOLOGY NEUTRAL.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 

17 shall ensure that the program established 

18 under subparagraph (B)(i) is neutral as to 

19 the types of technology used to provide 

20 voice telephony or broadband service under 

21 the Lifeline program to promote competi22 tion from service providers to qualify under 

23 such program. 

24 ‘‘(ii) AUTHORIZATION.—A partici25 pating broadband service provider need not 


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1 be an eligible telecommunications carrier to 

2 receive support under such program, but 

3 such provider shall obtain authorization 

4 from the Commission in order to partici5 pate in the program. 

6 ‘‘(F) ACCOUNTABILITY.— 

7 ‘‘(i) NONDUPLICATION.—In estab8 lishing the program under subparagraph 

9 (B)(i), the Commission shall adopt regula10 tions to prevent duplicative Lifeline sub11 sidies from being awarded to an individual 

12 eligible household. Only one Lifeline pro13 gram support amount per eligible house14 hold shall be available to qualifying individ15 uals. 

16 ‘‘(ii) PREVENTING WASTE, FRAUD, OR

17 ABUSE.—In adopting rules to implement 

18 this paragraph, the Commission shall con19 sider any appropriate measures to prevent 

20 any waste, fraud, or abuse of this program. 

21 ‘‘(iii) ELIGIBILITY.—The Commission, 

22 in consultation with other relevant Federal 

23 agencies, shall establish a national data24 base which can be used to determine conVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:25 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685

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1 sumer eligibility for Lifeline program sub2 sidies.’’. 

Æ 


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