I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4814 

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect 

the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2018 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. POCAN, and Mr. POLIS) 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 local governments to provide 

broadband capability and 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 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY BROADBAND CAPABILITY AND SERV7 ICES. 

8 Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 

9 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub2 section (e) and inserting after subsection (c) the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(d) LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF ADVANCED

5 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY AND SERVICES.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No State statute, regula7 tion, or other State legal requirement may prohibit 

8 or have the effect of prohibiting any public provider 

9 from providing, to any person or any public or pri10 vate entity, advanced telecommunications capability 

11 or any service that utilizes the advanced tele12 communications capability provided by such pro13 vider. 

14 ‘‘(2) ANTIDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.—To 

15 the extent any public provider regulates competing 

16 private providers of advanced telecommunications 

17 capability or services that utilize advanced tele18 communications capability, it shall apply its ordi19 nances and rules without discrimination in favor of 

20 itself or any provider that it owns of services that 

21 utilize advanced telecommunications capability. 

22 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub23 section shall exempt a public provider from any Fed24 eral or State telecommunications law or regulation 

25 that applies to all providers of advanced teleVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 18, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4814.IH H4814

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1 communications capability or services that utilize 

2 such advanced telecommunications capability.’’; and 

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

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

5 by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘this section’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘public pro9 vider’ means a State or political subdivision thereof, 

10 any agency, authority, or instrumentality of a State 

11 or political subdivision thereof, or an Indian tribe 

12 (as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Deter13 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

14 5304(e))), that provides advanced telecommuni15 cations capability, or any service that utilizes such 

16 advanced telecommunications capability, to any per17 son or public or private entity.’’. 

Æ 


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