II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2298 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve the program 

of access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2012 

Mr. BROWN of Ohio introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve 

the program of access to broadband telecommunications 

services 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 ‘‘Connecting Rural 

5 America Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

7 SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 

8 Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

9 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘loans and’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, and’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘5 percent’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘15 percent’’; 

5 (3) in subsection (c)— 

6 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

7 ‘‘LOANS AND’’ and inserting ‘‘GRANTS, LOANS, 

8 AND’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘make 

10 grants and’’ after ‘‘Secretary shall’’; 

11 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (i) by inserting ‘‘making grants and’’ 

13 after ‘‘In’’; and 

14 (ii) by inserting ‘‘poor and remote’’ 

15 after ‘‘priority to’’; and 

16 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(3) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM.—Except as otherwise pro19 vided in subparagraph (C), the amount of any 

20 grant made under this section shall not exceed 

21 50 percent of the development costs of the 

22 project for which the grant is provided. 

23 ‘‘(B) GRANT RATE.—The Secretary shall 

24 establish the grant rate for each project in ac25 cordance with regulations issued by the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:56 Apr 20, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2298.IS S2298

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1 retary that shall provide for a graduated scale 

2 of grant rates that establish higher rates for 

3 projects in communities that have— 

4 ‘‘(i) remote locations; 

5 ‘‘(ii) low community populations; 

6 ‘‘(iii) low income levels; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) developed the applications of the 

8 communities with the participation of com9 binations of stakeholders including— 

10 ‘‘(I) State, local, and tribal gov11 ernments; 

12 ‘‘(II) nonprofit institutions; 

13 ‘‘(III) institutions of higher edu14 cation; 

15 ‘‘(IV) private entities; and 

16 ‘‘(V) philanthropic organizations. 

17 ‘‘(C) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary 

18 may make grants of up to 75 percent of the de19 velopment costs of the project for which the 

20 grant is provided to an eligible entity if the Sec21 retary determines that a waiver of subpara22 graph (A) would best serve the purpose of the 

23 program under this section.’’; 

24 (4) in subsection (d)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 


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1 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

2 by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, 

3 loan, or’’; 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘a loan application’’ 

5 each place it appears in clauses (ii) and 

6 (iii) and inserting ‘‘an application’’; and 

7 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘pro8 ceeds from the loan made or guaranteed 

9 under this section are’’ and inserting ‘‘as10 sistance under this section is’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), in the matter 

12 preceding clause (i)— 

13 (i) by striking ‘‘the proceeds of a loan 

14 made or guaranteed’’ and inserting ‘‘as15 sistance’’; and 

16 (ii) by striking ‘‘for the loan or loan 

17 guarantee’’ and inserting ‘‘of the eligible 

18 entity’’; 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘loan or’’ each place it ap20 pears in paragraphs (2)(B), (3)(A), (4), (5), 

21 and (6) and inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

22 (D) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘a loan 

23 application’’ and inserting ‘‘an application’’; 

24 and 

25 (E) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(8) TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING.—The 

2 Secretary— 

3 ‘‘(A) shall require any entity receiving as4 sistance under this section to submit quarterly, 

5 in a format specified by the Secretary, a report 

6 that describes— 

7 ‘‘(i) the use by the entity of the assist8 ance; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the progress towards fulfilling 

10 the objectives for which the assistance was 

11 granted; 

12 ‘‘(B) shall maintain a fully searchable 

13 database, accessible on the Internet at no cost 

14 to the public, that contains, at a minimum— 

15 ‘‘(i) a list of each entity that has ap16 plied for assistance under this section; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a description of each application, 

18 including the status of each application; 

19 ‘‘(iii) for each entity receiving assist20 ance under this section— 

21 ‘‘(I) the name of the entity; 

22 ‘‘(II) the type of assistance being 

23 received; 

24 ‘‘(III) the purpose for which the 

25 entity is receiving the assistance; and 


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1 ‘‘(IV) each quarterly report sub2 mitted in accordance with subpara3 graph (A); and 

4 ‘‘(iv) such other information as is suf5 ficient to allow the public to understand 

6 and monitor assistance provided under this 

7 section; 

8 ‘‘(C) may, in addition to other authority 

9 under applicable law, deobligate awards to 

10 grantees that demonstrate an insufficient level 

11 of performance, or wasteful or fraudulent 

12 spending, as defined in advance by the Sec13 retary, and award those funds competitively to 

14 new or existing applicants consistent with this 

15 section; and 

16 ‘‘(D) may establish additional reporting 

17 and information requirements for any recipient 

18 of any assistance under this section so as to en19 sure compliance with this section.’’; 

20 (5) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘make a loan 

21 or loan guarantee’’ and inserting ‘‘provide assist22 ance’’; 

23 (6) in subsection (i)— 

24 (A) by inserting ‘‘grant or’’ after ‘‘pro25 ceeds of any’’; and 


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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘grant or’’ after ‘‘recipi2 ent of the’’; 

3 (7) in subsection (j)— 

4 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

5 by striking ‘‘loan and loan guarantee’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘grants 

7 and’’ after ‘‘number of’’; 

8 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

10 ‘‘loan’’; and 

11 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

12 ‘‘loans and’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, 

13 and’’; and 

14 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘loan’’; 

15 (8) in subsection (k)— 

16 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 

17 (2) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; 

18 (B) by inserting before paragraph (1) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY FUNDING.—Of the funds of 

21 the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 

22 shall use for the cost of grants, loans, and loan 

23 guarantees to carry out this section $20,000,000 for 

24 each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017, to remain 

25 available until expended.’’; and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (2) (as redesignated by 

2 subparagraph (A))— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘In addition to funds otherwise made 

5 available under this subsection, there is’’; 

6 and 

7 (ii) by striking ‘‘2012’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘2017’’; and 

9 (9) in subsection (l), by striking ‘‘2012’’ and in10 serting ‘‘2017’’. 

Æ 


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