II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 275 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting 

process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program 

funding. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for 

high-cost universal service program funding. 

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 Pro5 tection Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST 

7 UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

2 Communications Commission; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘covered funding’’ means high-cost 

4 universal service program funding provided through 

5 a competitive award process for the deployment of a 

6 broadband-capable network and the provision of sup7 ported services over the network; and 

8 (3) the term ‘‘new covered funding award’’ 

9 means an award of covered funding that is made 

10 based on an application submitted to the Commis11 sion on or after the date on which rules are promul12 gated under subsection (b). 

13 (b) FCC RULEMAKING.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

15 shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a vet16 ting process for applicants for, and other recipients of, a 

17 new covered funding award. 

18 (c) CONTENTS.—In promulgating rules under sub19 section (b), the Commission shall provide that— 

20 (1) an applicant for a new covered funding 

21 award shall include in the initial application a pro22 posal containing sufficient detail and documentation 

23 for the Commission to ascertain that the applicant 

24 possesses the technical capability, and has a reason25 able plan, to deploy the proposed network and deVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:34 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S275.IS S275

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1 liver services with the relevant performance charac2 teristics defined by the Commission and as pledged 

3 by the applicant; 

4 (2) the proposal described in paragraph (1) 

5 shall include sufficient detail and supporting docu6 mentation for the Commission to reasonably ascer7 tain whether the applicant and the technology that 

8 the applicant plans to use would have the ability to 

9 perform as required given the characteristics of the 

10 locations to be served; and 

11 (3) the Commission shall evaluate a proposal 

12 described in paragraph (1) against reasonable and 

13 well-established technical standards, including the 

14 technical standards adopted by the Commission in 

15 orders of the Commission relating to modernizing 

16 the FCC Form 477 Data Program (WC Docket No. 

17 11–10) (or orders of the Commission relating to 

18 modernizing any successor collection) for purposes of 

19 entities that must report broadband availability cov20 erage. 

Æ 


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