II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3114

To provide loans for the improvement of telecommunications services on

Indian reservations

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

A BILL

To provide loans for the improvement of telecommunications

services on Indian reservations

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 ‘‘Native American Tele5 communications Improvement and Value Enhancement

6 Act’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 Congress finds that—

9 (1) the average telephone penetration rate for

10 Native Americans on reservations is 47 percent
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1 (with some reservations as low as 16 percent) as

2 compared to 94 percent for the entire United States;

3 (2) barriers to telephone penetration on Native

4 American reservations include poverty (the per cap5 ita income for Native Americans is $8,234), the high

6 cost of service due to sparse population, and geo7 graphic challenges; and

8 (3) without telephone service, individuals cannot

9 obtain access to medical care in an emergency (911

10 service), cannot reach prospective employers quickly

11 and easily, and cannot take advantage of the edu12 cational, medical, and commercial opportunities of13 fered by the Internet.

14 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAN PROGRAM.

15 The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 901

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

17 ‘‘TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS

18 PROVISIONS

19 ‘‘SEC. 601. NATIVE AMERICAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS IM20 PROVEMENT AND VALUE ENHANCEMENT

21 LOAN PROGRAM.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through

23 the Rural Utilities Service, shall establish a program to

24 make loans to eligible Indian tribes (or tribal entities that

25 have entered into a partnership with a telecommunications
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1 carrier) to enable such tribes to provide for the develop2 ment of telecommunications infrastructure (wireline or

3 wireless) on lands under the jurisdiction of the tribe in4 volved.

5 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a loan

6 under the program established under subsection (a) an In7 dian tribe shall—

8 ‘‘(1)(A) be a member of a cooperative that is

9 made up of Federally-recognized Indian tribes spe10 cifically formed for the purpose of providing tele11 communications services to members of the tribes in12 volved; or

13 ‘‘(B) be a Federally-recognized Indian tribe

14 that has entered into an agreement with a tele15 communications carrier for the purpose of obtaining

16 loans under this section to improve the telecommuni17 cations infrastructure on lands under the jurisdic18 tion of the tribe involved; and

19 ‘‘(2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an

20 application at such time, in such manner, and con21 taining such information as the Secretary may re22 quire, including a telecommunications plan that

23 meets the requirements of section 305(d)(3)(B), in24 cluding an assurance that any amounts will only be
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1 used to provide service to unserved or underserved

2 areas.

3 ‘‘(c) REVOLVING LOAN FUND.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby established

5 in the Treasury of the United States a fund, to be

6 known as the Native American Telecommunications

7 Improvement Revolving Fund (referred to as the

8 ‘Fund’), consisting of—

9 ‘‘(A) all notes, bonds, obligations, liens,

10 mortgages, and property delivered or assigned

11 to the Secretary pursuant to loans made under

12 this section, and all proceeds from the sales of

13 such notes, bonds, obligations, liens, mortgages,

14 and property, which shall be transferred to and

15 be assets of the Fund;

16 ‘‘(B) all collections of principal and inter17 est received on a loan made under subsection

18 (a), which shall be paid into and be assets of

19 the Fund; and

20 ‘‘(C) all amounts appropriated to the Fund

21 under subsection (f).

22 ‘‘(2) USE.—The assets of the Fund shall be

23 used—
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1 ‘‘(A) to make loans under subsection (a)

2 and to otherwise administer the loan program

3 under this section; and

4 ‘‘(B) to award grants as provided for in

5 subsection (e).

6 ‘‘(d) INTEREST.—The interest rate for any loan made

7 under subsection (a) shall not exceed an annual rate of—

8 ‘‘(1) two percent for loans made to tribes where

9 the per capita income of the area to be served under

10 the loan is 25 percent or less of the per capita in11 come of the entire United States, based on the most

12 recent census;

13 ‘‘(2) three percent for loans made to tribes

14 where the per capita income of the area to be served

15 under the loan is at least 26 percent but less than

16 34 percent of the per capita income of the entire

17 United States, based on the most recent census;

18 ‘‘(3) four percent for loans made to tribes

19 where the per capita income of the area to be served

20 under the loan is at least 34 percent but less than

21 51 percent or less of the per capita income of the

22 entire United States, based on the most recent cen23 sus; or

24 ‘‘(4) five percent for loans made to tribes—
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1 ‘‘(A) where the per capita income of the

2 area to be served under the loan is at least 51

3 percent of the per capita income of the entire

4 United States, based on the most recent census;

5 or

6 ‘‘(B) that otherwise meet the definition of

7 hardship as contained in the Rural Utilities

8 Service regulations in effect on the date of en9 actment of this Act.

10 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award

12 grants to Indian tribes to enable such tribes to con13 duct feasibility studies with respect to tribal tele14 communications projects.

15 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The amount of a grant

16 awarded under paragraph (1) shall not exceed

17 $200,000.

18 ‘‘(3) FUNDING.—Of the amount appropriated

19 under subsection (f) and transferred to the Fund—

20 ‘‘(A) $2,000,000 shall be used to award

21 grants under this section in fiscal year 2001;

22 and

23 ‘‘(B) an amount determined appropriate by

24 the Secretary from the interest derived from

25 loans made under this section shall be used to
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1 award grants under this section in subsequent

2 fiscal years.

3 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

4 is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000,000 to carry

5 out this section.

6 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

7 ‘‘(1) FEDERALLY-RECOGNIZED INDIAN

8 TRIBE.—The term ‘Federally-recognized Indian

9 tribe’ means any Indian or Alaska Native tribe,

10 band, nation, pueblo, village or community that is

11 acknowledged by the Federal Government to con12 stitute a government-to-government relationship with

13 the United States and to be eligible for the pro14 grams and services established by the United States

15 for Indians.

16 ‘‘(2) TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER.—The

17 term ‘telecommunications carriers’ means any pro18 vider of telecommunications services.

19 ‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—The program established under

20 this section shall terminate on the earlier of—

21 ‘‘(1) the date that is 10 years after the date on

22 which the first loan is made under the program; or

23 ‘‘(2) the date on which the Secretary deter24 mines that the telecommunications penetration rate
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1 is at least 90 percent of all households on reserva2 tion lands.’’.

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