I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8040 

To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish 

a grant program to facilitate the provision of high-speed broadband 

service to small business concerns in rural areas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 14, 2020 

Mr. GOLDEN (for himself and Mr. STAUBER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a grant program to facilitate the 

provision of high-speed broadband service to small business concerns in rural areas, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Last 

5 Mile Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED 

2 BROADBAND SERVICE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

5 of the Small Business Administration shall establish a pro6 gram (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to facili7 tate the provision of high-speed broadband service to rural 

8 small business concerns. 

9 (b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro10 gram, the Administrator shall award a grant to each eligi11 ble State that submits an application. 

12 (c) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 

13 (1) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The Administrator shall 

14 award a grant under the Program each year to a 

15 State that submits an application pursuant to sub16 section (d). 

17 (2) ELIGIBLE SUBGRANT RECIPIENT.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible State may 

19 award a subgrant under the Program to any 

20 entity, or group of entities, determined by the 

21 eligible State to have the authority and capa22 bility to carry out a project described in sub23 section (d). 

24 (B) NOT REQUIRED TO BE ELIGIBLE

25 TELECOMMUNICATION CARRIER.—A determina26 tion of authority and capability under subparaVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8040.IH H8040

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1 graph (A) may not require a subgrant recipient 

2 to be designated as an eligible telecommuni3 cations carrier under section 214(e) of the 

4 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

5 214(e)). 

6 (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

7 the Program, a State shall submit to the Administrator 

8 an application that demonstrates that the State— 

9 (1) prior to the date of application for a grant 

10 under the Program, has experience managing a 

11 State or Federal grant program to facilitate the pro12 vision of high-speed broadband service; 

13 (2) maintains a State broadband plan; 

14 (3) has updated the State broadband plan 

15 under paragraph (2) in the five years prior to the 

16 date a State submits an application for a grant 

17 under the Program; 

18 (4) agrees to subgrant any awarded funds to an 

19 eligible subgrant recipient; 

20 (5) agrees to conduct a periodic financial audit 

21 of eligible subgrant recipients who have received a 

22 subgrant under the Program; 

23 (6) ensures proper disbursement and account24 ing for Federal funds awarded under the Program, 


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1 including demonstrating that if awarded a subgrant 

2 under the Program— 

3 (A) such award has been used to assist an 

4 eligible project; and 

5 (B) that a State has recovered an award 

6 from a subgrant recipient who has not complied 

7 with the requirements of the Program; and 

8 (7) possesses any other administrative or tech9 nical capacity that the Administrator deems nec10 essary for the success of the Program. 

11 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds awarded under 

13 the Program may only be used to assist a project 

14 that makes available eligible infrastructure necessary 

15 to provide high-speed broadband service to a rural 

16 small business concern. 

17 (2) RESTRICTION ON DUPLICATION.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds awarded 

19 under the Program may not be used to assist 

20 a project that makes available duplicative eligi21 ble infrastructure to a small business concern 

22 located in a rural area. 

23 (B) DETERMINATION OF DUPLICATIVE IN24 FRASTRUCTURE.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible State 

2 shall determine the presence of duplicative 

3 eligible infrastructure using broadband in4 frastructure geolocation data from Federal, 

5 State, or commercial sources. 

6 (ii) PROCESS TO CHALLENGE DETER7 MINATION.— 

8 (I) PUBLICATION REQUIRE9 MENT.—An eligible State shall make 

10 available to the public the location of 

11 proposed eligible infrastructure for 

12 which a subgrant application has been 

13 submitted to the eligible State. 

14 (II) OPPORTUNITY TO CHAL15 LENGE DETERMINATION.—Not later 

16 than 15 days prior to the award of a 

17 subgrant, an eligible State shall allow 

18 a provider of eligible infrastructure 

19 the opportunity to submit information 

20 regarding the location of such infra21 structure so that the eligible State 

22 may determine whether a project to 

23 be awarded a subgrant will make 

24 available duplicative eligible infra25 structure. 


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1 (f) PRIORITY.—In making a grant under the Pro2 gram, the Administrator shall give priority to an eligible 

3 project based on the number of small business concerns 

4 located in a rural area provided high-speed broadband 

5 service by the project. 

6 (g) GRANT AMOUNT AWARDED.—In making a grant 

7 under the Program, the Administrator shall award an eli8 gible State the amount equaling the ratio of the number 

9 of individuals in the eligible State who reside in a rural 

10 area divided by the number of individuals who reside in 

11 a rural area in all eligible States that have been approved 

12 under the Program, multiplied by the total amount of 

13 funds authorized to be appropriated under subsection 

14 (k)(2). 

15 (h) LIMITATIONS ON A SUBGRANT AMOUNT.—The 

16 amount of a subgrant under the Program— 

17 (1) if awarded to an entity providing high-speed 

18 broadband service to a single small business concern, 

19 may not exceed $15,000; or 

20 (2) if awarded to an entity providing high-speed 

21 broadband service to more than one small business 

22 concern, may not exceed $35,000. 

23 (i) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 

24 of a project assisted with a grant under the Program shall 

25 not exceed 75 percent. 


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1 (j) EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.— 

2 (1) REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR.—Not later 

3 than 30 months after the date of the enactment of 

4 this Act, each eligible State shall submit to the Ad5 ministrator a report demonstrating the information 

6 required pursuant to subsection (d)(6). 

7 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

8 three years after the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act, the Administrator shall submit to the Com10 mittee on Small Business of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Committee on Small Business 

12 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate a report on the 

13 Program that includes a description of— 

14 (A) the number of grants awarded under 

15 the Program; 

16 (B) the total amount of funding expended 

17 on eligible infrastructure pursuant to the Pro18 gram; 

19 (C) the number of small business concerns 

20 in rural areas provided eligible infrastructure as 

21 a result of the Program during the two-year pe22 riod beginning on the date on which the Admin23 istrator first awards a grant under the Pro24 gram; and 


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1 (D) the number of miles of eligible infra2 structure made available pursuant to the Pro3 gram. 

4 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

6 appropriated to carry out the Program $25,000,000 

7 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2023. 

8 (2) RESERVATION FOR GRANTS.—Not less than 

9 97 percent of funds appropriated for the Program 

10 shall be reserved for providing grants to eligible 

11 States. 

12 (3) RESERVATION FOR ADMINISTRATION.—Not 

13 more than 3 percent of funds appropriated for the 

14 Program may be used by the Administrator to ad15 minister the Program. 

16 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT ON BROADBAND SERVICE 

17 SPEEDS AND PRICING. 

18 (a) STUDY.—The Administrator of the Small Busi19 ness Administration shall conduct a survey of a represent20 ative sample of small business concerns located in rural 

21 areas on— 

22 (1) the speeds of broadband service available to 

23 small business concerns located in rural areas; 

24 (2) the prices for broadband service available to 

25 small business concerns located in rural areas; 


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1 (3) the types of broadband service technology 

2 used by small business concerns located in rural 

3 areas; 

4 (4) the type of broadband service available to 

5 small business concerns located in rural areas, spe6 cifically whether it is best-effort service or service 

7 with guaranteed quality-of-service benchmarks; and 

8 (5) the primary purposes for which small busi9 ness concerns located in rural areas use their 

10 broadband connections and whether their current 

11 broadband service enables them to satisfactorily 

12 carry out each of these purposes. 

13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than three years after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

15 submit to the Committee on Small Business of the House 

16 of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business 

17 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate a report on the re18 sults of the study conducted under subsection (a) that in19 cludes policy recommendations for improving the access 

20 of small business concerns to affordable high-speed 

21 broadband service. 

22 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) ELIGIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

25 ‘‘eligible infrastructure’’ means infrastructure of a 


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1 type with the demonstrated capability to facilitate 

2 broadband service for which— 

3 (A) 95 percent or more of all peak period 

4 measurements of— 

5 (i) downstream transmission capacity 

6 are at or above 50 Mbps; 

7 (ii) upstream transmission capacity 

8 are at or above 50 Mbps; and 

9 (iii) network round trip latency are at 

10 or below 100 milliseconds; and 

11 (B) an end-user’s monthly data cap is at 

12 or above 2 terabytes. 

13 (2) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 

14 the meaning given such term under section 

15 601(b)(3) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

16 (7 U.S.C. 950bb(b)(3)). 

17 (3) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 

18 term ‘‘rural small business concern’’ means a small 

19 business concern that has its principal office located 

20 in a rural area. 

21 (4) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 

22 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given 

23 such term under section 3 of the Small Business Act 

24 (15 U.S.C. 632). 


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1 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean2 ing given such term under section 12052 of the 

3 Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Im4 provements Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 636e). 

Æ 


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