I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2035 

To tailor the rural broadband program to better serve those living in rural 

areas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2007 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN (for herself, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, 

Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. POMEROY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 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 tailor the rural broadband program to better serve those 

living in rural areas. 

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 ‘‘Rural Broadband Im5 provement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL BROADBAND PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS. 

7 Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

8 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b), by striking paragraph (2) 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RURAL COMMUNITY.—The term 

4 ‘eligible rural community’ means any area of the 

5 United States that is not— 

6 ‘‘(A) included within the boundaries of any 

7 city, town, borough, or village, whether incor8 porated or unincorporated, with a population of 

9 more than 15,000 inhabitants; 

10 ‘‘(B) included within the boundaries of an 

11 urbanized area or urban cluster; or 

12 ‘‘(C) located within 10 miles of the bound13 ary of any such city, village, borough, or town 

14 or any urbanized area or urban cluster. 

15 ‘‘(3) URBANIZED AREA.—The term ‘urbanized 

16 area’ has the meaning given the term on page 11667 

17 of the Federal Register for March 15, 2002 (Volume 

18 67, Number 51). 

19 ‘‘(4) URBAN CLUSTER.—The term ‘urban clus20 ter’ has the meaning given the term on page 11667 

21 of the Federal Register for March 15, 2002 (Volume 

22 67, Number 51), except that ‘15,000’ shall be sub23 stituted for ‘2,500’. 

24 ‘‘(5) UNSERVED.—The term ‘unserved’ means, 

25 with respect to a household, that broadband service 


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1 is unavailable to the household, and that broadband 

2 facilities that would serve the household are not 

3 under construction.’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF LOAN OR LOAN GUAR7 ANTEE.—The amount of the loan or loan guarantee 

8 for which an entity is otherwise eligible under this 

9 section for a project shall, subject to any general 

10 limitation on funding a project imposed by the Sec11 retary, be an amount equal to— 

12 ‘‘(A) if at least 50 percent of the house13 holds in the eligible rural community to be 

14 served by the project are unserved at the time 

15 the entity applied for the loan or loan guar16 antee, the total cost of the project; or 

17 ‘‘(B) in any other case, the total costs of 

18 the project multiplied by the percentage of 

19 households in the eligible rural community to be 

20 served by the project represented by those that 

21 are unserved.’’; and 

22 (3) in subsection (g)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para24 graph (1)(B); 


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1 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

2 paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(3) be repayable to the Secretary in full (with 

5 interest and reasonable administrative costs) if the 

6 project for which the loan or loan guarantee is pro7 vided is not completed throughout the entire area in 

8 which the project is proposed to be carried out, with9 in 3 years after the date the loan or loan guarantee 

10 is approved.’’. 

Æ 


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