I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1631 

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect 

the ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships, 

and cooperatives to provide broadband services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2021 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. GOLDEN, Mr. NEAL, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. NORTON, 

and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve 

and protect the ability of State and local governments, 

public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to provide 

broadband services. 

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 ‘‘Community Broadband 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, 

2 AND CO-OP BROADBAND SERVICES. 

3 Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 

4 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub6 section (e) and inserting after subsection (c) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(d) STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNER9 SHIP, AND CO-OP ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CA10 PABILITY AND SERVICES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No State statute, regula12 tion, or other State legal requirement may prohibit 

13 or have the effect of prohibiting any public provider, 

14 public-private partnership provider, or cooperatively 

15 organized provider from providing, to any person or 

16 any public or private entity, advanced telecommuni17 cations capability or any service that utilizes the ad18 vanced telecommunications capability provided by 

19 such provider. 

20 ‘‘(2) ANTIDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC PROVIDERS.—To the extent 

22 any public provider regulates competing private 

23 providers of advanced telecommunications capa24 bility or services that utilize advanced tele25 communications capability, such public provider 

26 shall apply its ordinances and rules without disVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1631.IH H1631

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1 crimination in favor of itself or any provider 

2 that it owns of services that utilize advanced 

3 telecommunications capability. 

4 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO5 VIDERS.—To the extent any State or local enti6 ty that is part of a public-private partnership 

7 provider regulates competing private providers 

8 of advanced telecommunications capability or 

9 services that utilize advanced telecommuni10 cations capability, such State or local entity 

11 shall apply its ordinances and rules without dis12 crimination in favor of such public-private part13 nership provider or any provider that such 

14 State or local entity or public-private partner15 ship provider owns of services that utilize ad16 vanced telecommunications capability. 

17 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub18 section shall exempt a public provider, public-private 

19 partnership provider, or cooperatively organized pro20 vider from any Federal or State telecommunications 

21 law or regulation that applies to all providers of ad22 vanced telecommunications capability or services 

23 that utilize such advanced telecommunications capa24 bility.’’; and 

25 (2) in subsection (e), as redesignated— 


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

2 by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘this section’’; 

4 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

5 paragraph (3); 

6 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(2) COOPERATIVELY ORGANIZED PROVIDER.— 

9 The term ‘cooperatively organized provider’ means 

10 an entity that is treated as a cooperative under Fed11 eral tax law and that provides advanced tele12 communications capability, or any service that uti13 lizes such advanced telecommunications capability, 

14 to any person or public or private entity.’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘public pro17 vider’ means a State or local entity that provides ad18 vanced telecommunications capability, or any service 

19 that utilizes such advanced telecommunications ca20 pability, to any person or public or private entity. 

21 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO22 VIDER.—The term ‘public-private partnership pro23 vider’ means a public-private partnership, between a 

24 State or local entity and a private entity, that pro25 vides advanced telecommunications capability, or any 


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1 service that utilizes such advanced telecommuni2 cations capability, to any person or public or private 

3 entity. 

4 ‘‘(6) STATE OR LOCAL ENTITY.—The term 

5 ‘State or local entity’ means a State or political sub6 division thereof, any agency, authority, or instru7 mentality of a State or political subdivision thereof, 

8 or an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4(e) of the 

9 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

10 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e))).’’. 

Æ 


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