I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4682 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure internet openness, 

to prohibit blocking of lawful content, applications, services, and nonharmful devices, to prohibit impairment or degradation of lawful internet 

traffic, to limit the authority of the Federal Communications Commission 

and to preempt State law with respect to internet openness obligations, 

to provide that broadband internet access service shall be considered 

to be an information service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2017 

Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. LANCE, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. FLORES, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. 

GUTHRIE, and Mr. KNIGHT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure internet openness, to prohibit blocking of lawful content, applications, services, and non-harmful devices, to prohibit 

impairment or degradation of lawful internet traffic, to 

limit the authority of the Federal Communications Commission and to preempt State law with respect to internet openness obligations, to provide that broadband 

internet access service shall be considered to be an information service, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Open Internet Preser5 vation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERNET OPENNESS. 

7 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

8 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 13. INTERNET OPENNESS. 

11 ‘‘(a) OBLIGATIONS OF BROADBAND INTERNET AC12 CESS SERVICE PROVIDERS.—A person engaged in the pro13 vision of broadband internet access service, insofar as such 

14 person is so engaged— 

15 ‘‘(1) may not block lawful content, applications, 

16 services, or non-harmful devices, subject to reason17 able network management; and 

18 ‘‘(2) may not impair or degrade lawful internet 

19 traffic on the basis of internet content, application, 

20 or service, or use of a non-harmful device, subject to 

21 reasonable network management. 

22 ‘‘(b) COMMISSION AUTHORITY.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall en24 force the obligations established in subsection (a) 

25 and the obligations established in subsection (e)(2) 


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1 through adjudication of complaints alleging viola2 tions of such respective subsection but may not, 

3 under any provision of law, whether by rulemaking 

4 or otherwise— 

5 ‘‘(A) expand the internet openness obliga6 tions for provision of broadband internet access 

7 service beyond the obligations established in 

8 subsection (a); or 

9 ‘‘(B) expand the internet openness obliga10 tions for the offering or provision of specialized 

11 services beyond the obligations established in 

12 subsection (e)(2). 

13 ‘‘(2) FORMAL COMPLAINT PROCEDURES.—Not 

14 later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 

15 of this section, the Commission shall adopt formal 

16 complaint procedures to address alleged violations of 

17 subsection (a) and alleged violations of subsection 

18 (e)(2). Such procedures shall include a deadline (rel19 ative to the date of filing of a complaint under such 

20 procedures) for the disposition of such complaint. 

21 ‘‘(c) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.—No State or po22 litical subdivision of a State shall adopt, maintain, enforce, 

23 or impose or continue in effect any law, rule, regulation, 

24 duty, requirement, standard, or other provision having the 

25 force and effect of law relating to or with respect to interVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Dec 19, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4682.IH H4682

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1 net openness obligations for provision of broadband inter2 net access service. 

3 ‘‘(d) OTHER LAWS AND CONSIDERATIONS.—Nothing 

4 in this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) supersedes any obligation or authorization 

6 a provider of broadband internet access service may 

7 have to address the needs of emergency communica8 tions or law enforcement, public safety, or national 

9 security authorities, consistent with or as permitted 

10 by applicable law, or limits the provider’s ability to 

11 do so; or 

12 ‘‘(2) prohibits reasonable efforts by a provider 

13 of broadband internet access service to address copy14 right infringement or other unlawful activity. 

15 ‘‘(e) SPECIALIZED SERVICES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), nothing in this section shall be construed 

18 to limit the ability of broadband internet access serv19 ice providers to offer specialized services. 

20 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN PRACTICES.— 

21 Specialized services may not be offered or provided 

22 in ways that threaten the meaningful availability of 

23 broadband internet access service or that have been 

24 devised or promoted in a manner designed to evade 

25 the purposes of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(f) BROADBAND TO BE CONSIDERED INFORMATION

2 SERVICE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

3 the provision of broadband internet access service or any 

4 other mass-market retail service providing advanced tele5 communications capability (as defined in section 706 of 

6 the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302)) 

7 shall be considered to be an information service. 

8 ‘‘(g) REASONABLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT.—For 

9 purposes of subsection (a), a network management prac10 tice is reasonable if it is primarily used for and tailored 

11 to achieving a legitimate network management purpose, 

12 taking into account the particular network architecture 

13 and technology of the broadband internet access service. 

14 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV16 ICE.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘broadband 

18 internet access service’ means a mass-market 

19 retail service by wire or radio that provides the 

20 capability to transmit data to and receive data 

21 from all or substantially all internet endpoints, 

22 including any capabilities that are incidental to 

23 and enable the operation of the communications 

24 service, but excluding dial-up internet access 

25 service. 


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1 ‘‘(B) FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT; EVA2 SION.—Such term includes any service that— 

3 ‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro4 viding a functional equivalent of the service 

5 described in subparagraph (A); or 

6 ‘‘(ii) is used to evade the obligations 

7 set forth in subsection (a). 

8 ‘‘(2) NETWORK MANAGEMENT PRACTICE.—The 

9 term ‘network management practice’ means a prac10 tice that has a primarily technical network manage11 ment justification. Such term does not include other 

12 business practices. 

13 ‘‘(3) SPECIALIZED SERVICES.—The term ‘spe14 cialized services’ means services other than 

15 broadband internet access service that are offered 

16 over the same network as, and that may share net17 work capacity with, broadband internet access serv18 ice.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS 

20 SERVICES FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUNDS. 

21 Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

22 U.S.C. 254) is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

24 following: 


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1 ‘‘(4) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV2 ICES.—Broadband internet access services (as de3 fined in section 13) shall be eligible to receive fund4 ing from Federal universal service support mecha5 nisms authorized by this section.’’; and 

6 (2) in subsection (e)— 

7 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or 

8 a provider of broadband internet access service 

9 (as defined in section 13)’’ after ‘‘section 

10 214(e)’’; and 

11 (B) in the second sentence, by inserting 

12 ‘‘or provider’’ after ‘‘carrier’’. 

Æ 


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