I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7447 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions 

to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Mr. CLYBURN (for himself, Mr. UPTON, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mrs. HAYES, 

Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. COX of California, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. REED, Mr. 

BALDERSON, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, 

Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. NORMAN, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. TRONE, Mr. WILSON

of South Carolina, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. WRIGHT, and Mr. GOTTHEIMER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take 

certain actions to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ACCELERATION OF RURAL DIGITAL OPPOR4 TUNITY FUND PHASE I AUCTION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the Rural Digital 

6 Opportunity Fund Phase I auction (in this section re7 ferred to as the ‘‘auction’’) provided for in the Report and 


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1 Order in the matter of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 

2 and Connect America Fund adopted by the Commission 

3 on January 30, 2020 (FCC 20–5), the Commission shall 

4 modify the framework for the auction adopted in such Re5 port and Order as follows: 

6 (1) The Commission shall accept long-form ap7 plications before the auction, during the period that 

8 begins not earlier than the date that is 30 days after 

9 the date on which the Commission begins accepting 

10 short-form applications and ends on September 15, 

11 2020, from such applicants as are willing to commit 

12 to the schedule described in paragraph (3)(C) for de13 ployment of networks capable of providing gigabit 

14 broadband internet access service. 

15 (2) If the long-form applications accepted pur16 suant to paragraph (1) indicate that, for any census 

17 block or census block group that, as of July 31, 

18 2020, was identified on the List of Eligible Areas 

19 maintained by the Commission, there is only 1 quali20 fied applicant willing to commit to provide gigabit 

21 broadband internet access service pursuant to the 

22 schedule described in paragraph (3)(C), the Commis23 sion shall, not later than the earlier of October 15, 

24 2020, or 14 days before the start of the auction— 


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1 (A) award to such applicant Rural Digital 

2 Opportunity Fund Phase I support for such 

3 census block or census block group, at 100 per4 cent of the reserve price (in this paragraph re5 ferred to as the ‘‘award’’); 

6 (B) remove such census block or census 

7 block group from the auction; and 

8 (C) reduce the budget for the auction by 

9 50 percent of the amount of the award and re10 duce the budget for the Rural Digital Oppor11 tunity Fund Phase II auction provided for in 

12 such Report and Order by 50 percent of the 

13 amount of the award. 

14 (3) The Commission shall require an applicant 

15 submitting a long-form application pursuant to para16 graph (1), in order for such application to be consid17 ered complete— 

18 (A) to demonstrate project readiness by 

19 providing a network design for a fiber optic 

20 cable or hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable net21 work (which may include other technology used 

22 in conjunction with the foregoing solely on an 

23 ancillary basis) to be deployed to provide gig24 abit broadband internet access service to loca25 tions in each census block or census block 


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1 group covered by the application, except that an 

2 applicant that has offered gigabit broadband 

3 internet access service (despite consumer equip4 ment limitations) for at least 2 years before the 

5 date on which the application is submitted shall 

6 be presumed to have demonstrated project read7 iness; 

8 (B) to demonstrate financial stability by 

9 providing a letter of commitment from a bank 

10 or other documentation to establish that suffi11 cient credit would be available to such applicant 

12 if such applicant becomes a winning bidder and 

13 is awarded support; and 

14 (C) to commit to— 

15 (i) begin construction not later than 6 

16 months following funding authorization; 

17 and 

18 (ii) begin to make service available in 

19 at least one awarded census block not later 

20 than 1 year following funding authoriza21 tion. 

22 (4) A recipient of an award of support under 

23 paragraph (2)(A) shall have a reasonable oppor24 tunity, of not less than 90 days after the date on 

25 which such award of support is made, to cure any 


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1 deficiencies in a long-form application submitted 

2 pursuant to paragraph (1). 

3 (5) If a recipient of an award of support under 

4 paragraph (2)(A) for a census block or census block 

5 group fails to meet the deployment schedule to 

6 which the recipient committed under paragraph 

7 (3)(C), the Commission shall revoke such award of 

8 support and include such census block or census 

9 block group for competitive bidding in the Rural 

10 Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction provided 

11 for in such Report and Order, unless such deploy12 ment schedule is extended by the Commission for 

13 good cause, due to extenuating circumstances out14 side the control of the recipient and the Commission 

15 finds that the recipient is making good faith efforts 

16 to overcome such circumstances. 

17 (6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

18 the Commission shall not require any short-form or 

19 long-form applicant to be designated as an eligible 

20 telecommunications carrier under section 214(e) of 

21 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)) 

22 in order to receive Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 

23 Phase I or Phase II support. 

24 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 

2 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ has 

3 the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b) of 

4 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc5 cessor regulation). 

6 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

7 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

8 (3) GIGABIT BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS

9 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘gigabit broadband internet ac10 cess service’’ means broadband internet access serv11 ice with a downstream speed of at least 1 gigabit per 

12 second. 

13 SEC. 2. ENSURING THE FCC CREATES ACCURATE SERVICE 

14 MAPS. 

15 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Title 

16 VIII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 641 

17 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 807. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Com20 mission to carry out this title— 

21 ‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 

22 ‘‘(2) $9,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

23 2021 through 2027.’’. 

24 (b) DEADLINE FOR CREATION OF MAPS.—Section 

25 802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 


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1 642(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘create’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘create, not later than October 1, 2020’’. 

Æ 


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