II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4411 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish in the Federal 

Communications Commission the Broadband Development Grant Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 4, 2020 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish 

in the Federal Communications Commission the Broadband Development Grant 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 ‘‘Governors’ Broadband 

5 Development Fund Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GOVERNORS’ BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT FUND. 

7 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

9 following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 14. BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘anchor institution’ means— 

4 ‘‘(A) a public or private elementary school 

5 or secondary school, as those terms are defined 

6 in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec7 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

8 7801); 

9 ‘‘(B) a library; 

10 ‘‘(C) a medical or healthcare provider; 

11 ‘‘(D) a museum; 

12 ‘‘(E) a public safety entity; 

13 ‘‘(F) public housing; 

14 ‘‘(G) an institution of higher education, as 

15 that term is defined in section 101 of the High16 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), in17 cluding a community college; or 

18 ‘‘(H) any other community support organi19 zation or agency; 

20 ‘‘(2) the term ‘broadband’ has the meaning 

21 given the term ‘broadband internet access service’ in 

22 section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regula23 tions, or any successor regulation; 

24 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered entity’— 

25 ‘‘(A) means an entity that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) is owned by, controlled by, affili2 ated with, or acting at the direction of an 

3 entity that is organized under the laws of, 

4 or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of, 

5 a country, the government of which is on 

6 the priority watch list established by the 

7 United States Trade Representative pursu8 ant to section 182(a) of the Trade Act of 

9 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2242(a)); and 

10 ‘‘(ii) has engaged in an action that is 

11 prohibited under— 

12 ‘‘(I) section 1(a) of Executive 

13 Order 13873 (84 Fed. Reg. 22689; 

14 relating to securing the information 

15 and communications technology and 

16 services supply chain); or 

17 ‘‘(II) any regulations issued in 

18 response to the Executive order de19 scribed in subclause (I); and 

20 ‘‘(B) includes any subsidiary, affiliate, em21 ployee, or representative of, and any related 

22 party with respect to, an entity described in 

23 subparagraph (A), without regard to the loca24 tion or jurisdiction of incorporation of that subVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4411.IS S4411

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1 sidiary, affiliate, employee, representative, or 

2 party, as applicable; 

3 ‘‘(4) the term ‘Program’ means the Broadband 

4 Development Grant Program established under this 

5 section; 

6 ‘‘(5) the term ‘public housing’— 

7 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 

8 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act 

9 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and 

10 ‘‘(B) includes housing receiving tenant11 based rental assistance provided under section 

12 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

13 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)); 

14 ‘‘(6) the term ‘qualified opportunity zone’ has 

15 the meaning given the term in section 1400Z–1(a) 

16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 

17 ‘‘(7) the term ‘unserved anchor institution’ 

18 means an anchor institution that does not have ac19 cess to broadband offered with— 

20 ‘‘(A) a download speed of at least 100 

21 megabits per second; and 

22 ‘‘(B) an upload speed of at least 10 mega23 bits per second. 

24 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—There is 

2 established in the Commission the Broadband Devel3 opment Grant Program. 

4 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—From the amounts made avail5 able to carry out this section, the Commission shall 

6 make grants under the Program to each State that 

7 has submitted an application for such a grant that 

8 the Commission has approved. 

9 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) not later than 90 days after the date 

12 of enactment of this section, issue a notice in13 viting States to submit applications with respect 

14 to the Program, which shall contain the amount 

15 available to each State; and 

16 ‘‘(B) not later than 60 days after the date 

17 on which the Commission receives an applica18 tion described in subparagraph (A), approve or 

19 deny the application. 

20 ‘‘(2) RULES FOR STATES.— 

21 ‘‘(A) LIMITATION.—A State may submit 

22 only 1 application under this section with re23 spect to the State, which may contain a com24 prehensive overview of multiple project pro25 posals, each of which shall satisfy the requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4411.IS S4411

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1 ments of this section and any rules issued 

2 under this section. 

3 ‘‘(B) TIMELINE.—A State shall submit to 

4 the Commission an application under paragraph 

5 (1) not later than 90 days after the date on 

6 which the Commission issues the notice under 

7 that paragraph. 

8 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a grant 

9 that a State receives under this section shall be deter10 mined as follows, subject to the availability of appropria11 tions: 

12 ‘‘(1) Each State receiving a grant under this 

13 section shall receive a grant in an amount that is 

14 not less than $75,000,000. 

15 ‘‘(2) Of the amounts remaining to carry out 

16 this section after carrying out paragraph (1), the 

17 Commission shall use the following calculation with 

18 respect to the State: 

19 ‘‘(A) Divide the number of individuals liv20 ing in the State by the total number of individ21 uals living in the United States. 

22 ‘‘(B) Multiply the total amount made avail23 able to carry out this section after carrying out 

24 paragraph (1) by the quotient obtained under 

25 subparagraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(e) USES OF FUNDS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives a 

3 grant under the Program— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) expend not less than 30 percent 

6 of the grant funds in qualified opportunity 

7 zones within the State; 

8 ‘‘(ii) prioritize expending grant funds 

9 in areas or locations that are not served by 

10 existing broadband networks; 

11 ‘‘(iii) expend not less than 5 percent 

12 of the grant funds in a technologically neu13 tral manner to support the adoption of 

14 broadband by populations within the State 

15 that are identified as facing barriers to 

16 digital equity; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) prioritize project proposals 

18 that— 

19 ‘‘(I) would provide broadband not 

20 later than 60 days after the date on 

21 which the project is initiated; and 

22 ‘‘(II) rely on advanced broadband 

23 capabilities and technologies; 


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1 ‘‘(B) may expend any of the grant funds, 

2 including in a manner described in subpara3 graph (A), to— 

4 ‘‘(i) construct, acquire, or lease facili5 ties, spectrum, land, or buildings to deploy 

6 broadband for— 

7 ‘‘(I) residential and business cus8 tomers; or 

9 ‘‘(II) unserved anchor institu10 tions, which, in the case of an 

11 unserved anchor institution that is a 

12 medical or healthcare provider, may 

13 use the deployed broadband for tele14 health purposes; 

15 ‘‘(ii) provide broadband service free of 

16 charge, or with reduced charges, to 

17 unserved anchor institutions for a period of 

18 2 years; or 

19 ‘‘(iii) expand, construct, acquire, or 

20 make improvements to a community center 

21 that provides internet access to the public; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(C) may not expend— 


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1 ‘‘(i) any of the grant funds to pur2 chase products, materials, or services from 

3 a covered entity; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) more than 5 percent of the grant 

5 funds for administrative purposes. 

6 ‘‘(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

7 Congress that a State that receives a grant under 

8 the Program should partner with private entities to 

9 engage in the uses required and permitted under 

10 paragraph (1). 

11 ‘‘(f) REALLOCATION.—If, as of the date that is 5 

12 years after the date on which a State receives grant funds 

13 under the Program, a State has not allocated any portion 

14 of those funds— 

15 ‘‘(1) the State shall return those remaining 

16 funds to the Commission; and 

17 ‘‘(2) the Commission shall, in accordance with 

18 subsection (d)(2), reallocate the funds received 

19 under paragraph (1) to the remaining States for 

20 which the Commission has approved applications. 

21 ‘‘(g) DIRECT PROVISION OF BROADBAND.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall contain 

23 sufficient measures to ensure that a State that uses 

24 grant funds received under the Program to directly 

25 provide broadband to consumers applies and enVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4411.IS S4411

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1 forces, without discrimination, with respect to the 

2 State and any other provider of broadband within 

3 the jurisdiction of the State, all applicable laws, reg4 ulations, and other requirements, including laws, 

5 regulations, and requirements relating to— 

6 ‘‘(A) taxation; 

7 ‘‘(B) zoning; 

8 ‘‘(C) land use; 

9 ‘‘(D) the building of facilities or other obli10 gations to serve; 

11 ‘‘(E) the imposition of regulatory fees; 

12 ‘‘(F) customer service; 

13 ‘‘(G) public, educational, and governmental 

14 access channel mandates; and 

15 ‘‘(H) technical quality of service. 

16 ‘‘(2) RATES.—If a State directly provides 

17 broadband to consumers using grant funds received 

18 under the Program, the State may not charge a rate 

19 for the service in an amount that is less than or 

20 equal to the cost of providing the service. 

21 ‘‘(h) IMPACT OF OTHER FEDERAL GRANT PRO22 GRAMS.—Participation by a State in the Program shall 

23 not impact the eligibility of, or otherwise disadvantage, the 

24 State with respect to participation in any other Federal 

25 broadband program. 


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1 ‘‘(i) REPORTS.—A State that, in a year, receives 

2 grant funds under the Program shall submit to the Com3 mission— 

4 ‘‘(1) a report for the applicable year regarding 

5 how the State expended the funds; and 

6 ‘‘(2) a certification that the State, for that 

7 year, has complied with the requirements of this sec8 tion and with any additional requirements prescribed 

9 by the Commission, including a description of each 

10 service provided with the grant funds and the num11 ber of locations in which service was provided using 

12 the grant funds. 

13 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to the Commission 

15 $10,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 to carry out the Pro16 gram, which shall remain available through fiscal year 

17 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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