II 

Calendar No. 594 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2427 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a study 

and submit to Congress a report examining the feasibility of funding 

the Universal Service Fund through contributions supplied by edge providers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2021 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. 

CRAPO, Mr. LUJA ́N, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

DECEMBER 7, 2022 

Reported by Ms. CANTWELL, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report examining 

the feasibility of funding the Universal Service Fund 

through contributions supplied by edge providers, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Funding Affordable 

3 Internet with Reliable Contributions Act’’ or the ‘‘FAIR 

4 Contributions Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND 

6 CONTRIBUTIONS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

12 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com14 merce of the House of Representatives. 

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

16 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

17 (3) CONTRIBUTION.—The term ‘‘contribution’’ 

18 means funds provided to the Universal Service Fund 

19 under section 254(d) of the Communications Act of 

20 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 

21 (4) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘edge pro22 vider’’ means a provider of online content or serv23 ices, such as a search engine, a social media plat24 form, a streaming service, an app store, a cloud 

25 computing service, or an e-commerce platform. 


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1 (5) UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND.—The term 

2 ‘‘Universal Service Fund’’ means the fund estab3 lished pursuant to section 254 of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) and administered 

5 by the Universal Service Administrative Company to 

6 support service to high-cost areas, schools and li7 braries, rural health care facilities, and the Lifeline 

8 program of the Commission. 

9 (b) STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, and after issuing 

11 a notice of inquiry seeking public comment on the issues 

12 described in this subsection, the Commission shall conduct 

13 a study and submit to the appropriate congressional com14 mittees a report examining the feasibility of funding the 

15 Universal Service Fund through contributions supplied by 

16 edge providers, which shall include the consideration of 

17 comments on, and the findings of the Commission with 

18 respect to— 

19 (1) the class of firms and services on which 

20 contributions could be assessed, including an inquiry 

21 into the specific sources of revenue potentially sub22 ject to contributions, such as digital advertising rev23 enue and user fees; 

24 (2) the equity issues of the current contribu25 tions system, including the cost burden on conVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Dec 07, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2427.RS S2427

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1 sumers who traditionally purchase legacy tele2 communications services; 

3 (3) equity issues of alternative contributions 

4 systems that would create new funding sources for 

5 the Universal Service Fund such as Federal appro6 priations or assessments on edge providers; 

7 (4) whether a particular contributions system 

8 results in progressive or regressive fees; 

9 (5) the size of firms subject to contributions re10 quirements; 

11 (6) the broadband requirements, such as band12 width and latency, of a particular online service; 

13 (7) other Federal, State, and local taxes and 

14 fees that edge providers may already pay; 

15 (8) practical issues concerning the calculation 

16 of contributions, including which revenues should be 

17 subject to contributions, whether a flat or progres18 sive rate is most appropriate, and the logistics of 

19 collection; 

20 (9) the effect such a change would have on tele21 communications bills of consumers, including low-in22 come, elderly, and Tribal consumers; 

23 (10) the effect such a change would have on the 

24 sustainability of the Universal Service Fund, and 


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1 how to ensure that Universal Service Fund disburse2 ments are consistent and predictable over time; 

3 (11) the statutory authority the Commission 

4 would require to enact such a change and how such 

5 a change would interact with existing Federal and 

6 State law; and 

7 (12) the continued necessity of the Universal 

8 Service Fund once advanced telecommunications ca9 pability is available to all people in the United 

10 States. 

11 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

12 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Funding Affordable 

13 Internet with Reliable Contributions Act’’ or the ‘‘FAIR 

14 Contributions Act’’. 

15 SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND 

16 CONTRIBUTIONS. 

17 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit20 tees’’ means— 

21 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

22 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

23 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com24 merce of the House of Representatives. 


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1 (2) BROADBAND PROVIDER.—The term 

2 ‘‘broadband provider’’ means a provider of broadband 

3 internet access service, as defined in section 8.1(b) of 

4 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 

5 regulation. 

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

7 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

8 (4) CONTRIBUTION.—The term ‘‘contribution’’ 

9 means funds contributed to the Universal Service 

10 Fund under section 254(d) of the Communications 

11 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(d)). 

12 (5) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘edge provider’’ 

13 means a provider of online content or services, includ14 ing, but not limited to, a search engine, a social 

15 media platform, a streaming service, an app store, a 

16 cloud computing service, an over-the-top messaging 

17 service, a video conferencing service, or an e-commerce 

18 platform. 

19 (6) UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND.—The term ‘‘Uni20 versal Service Fund’’ means the fund— 

21 (A) established pursuant to section 254 of 

22 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

23 254); and 


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1 (B) administered by the Universal Service 

2 Administrative Company or any other adminis3 trator designated by the Commission. 

4 (b) STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, and after issuing a notice 

6 of inquiry seeking public comment on the issues described 

7 in this subsection, the Commission shall conduct a study 

8 and submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

9 report examining the feasibility and effects of expanding 

10 the base of contributors to the Universal Service Fund to 

11 include contributions supplied by edge providers and 

12 broadband providers, which shall include the consideration 

13 of comments on, and the findings of the Commission with 

14 respect to— 

15 (1) the class of firms and services that benefit di16 rectly and financially from the programs funded by 

17 the Universal Service Fund; 

18 (2) the size and class of firms and services on 

19 which contributions could be assessed, including an 

20 inquiry into the specific sources of revenue of edge 

21 providers and broadband providers potentially subject 

22 to contributions, such as digital advertising revenue 

23 and user fees; 

24 (3) the broadband requirements, such as band25 width and latency, of particular online services that 


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1 would be subject to contribution requirements if con2 tributions were assessed on edge providers and 

3 broadband providers; 

4 (4) other Federal, State, and local taxes and fees 

5 that edge providers and broadband providers may al6 ready pay; 

7 (5) practical issues concerning the calculation of 

8 contributions assessed on edge providers and 

9 broadband providers, including which revenues should 

10 be subject to contributions, whether a flat or progres11 sive rate or other fee is most appropriate, whether 

12 characteristics of service such as bandwidth or latency 

13 should affect the calculation of contributions, the lo14 gistics of collection, whether a calculation would re15 sult in the same revenue source being assessed twice, 

16 and the ability to assess contributions on foreign edge 

17 providers that provide content and services to con18 sumers in the United States; 

19 (6) the effect the assessment of contributions on 

20 edge providers and broadband providers would have 

21 on telecommunications and edge provider costs for 

22 consumers, including low-income, elderly, and Tribal 

23 consumers; 

24 (7) the effect the assessment of contributions on 

25 edge providers and broadband providers would have 


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1 on the sustainability of the Universal Service Fund, 

2 and whether the assessment would ensure that Uni3 versal Service Fund disbursements are consistent and 

4 predictable over time; 

5 (8) the existing statutory authority the Commis6 sion has to assess contributions on edge providers and 

7 broadband providers, and how any change to such au8 thority would interact with existing Federal and 

9 State law; 

10 (9) the impact of assessing contributions on any 

11 other services, including enterprise services, that are 

12 subject to the authority of the Commission; and 

13 (10) the costs to the Commission of implementing 

14 and administering a contribution assessment mecha15 nism on broadband providers and edge providers, and 

16 the ability of the Commission to enforce such a mech17 anism. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 594 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2427 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commisposes. supplied by edge providers, and for other pur- Universal Service Fund through contributions a report examining the feasibility of funding the sion to conduct a study and submit to Congress 

DECEMBER 7, 2022 

Reported with an amendment 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS