I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3646 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish a Lifeline Assistance 

Program for universal broadband adoption, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 

Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish 

a Lifeline Assistance Program for universal broadband 

adoption, 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 ‘‘Broadband Afford5 ability Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

7 Section 254(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 

8 (47 U.S.C. 254(j)) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 

10 Nothing in this’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PRO5 GRAM.— 

6 ‘‘(A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this para7 graph is to promote the adoption of broadband 

8 service by all people of the United States while 

9 recognizing that the price of broadband service 

10 is a barrier to adoption for low income house11 holds. 

12 ‘‘(B) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 

13 days after the date of enactment of the 

14 Broadband Affordability Act of 2009, the Com15 mission shall take all actions necessary to es16 tablish a broadband lifeline program that en17 ables qualifying low-income customers residing 

18 in urban and rural areas to purchase broadband 

19 service at reduced charges by reimbursing pro20 viders for each such customer served. Such 

21 broadband lifeline program shall be similar in 

22 structure to the Lifeline program for basic tele23 phone service under subpart E of part 54 of 

24 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. 


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1 ‘‘(C) STATE MATCHING FUNDS.—In rec2 ognition of the interstate nature of broadband 

3 service, the Commission may determine, in con4 sultation with the Federal-State Joint Board, 

5 whether State matching funds must be provided 

6 as a condition of eligibility for low-income 

7 households within such State. 

8 ‘‘(D) AMOUNT OF SUPPORT.—The Com9 mission, in calculating the amount of support to 

10 be provided to each low-income household, shall 

11 routinely study the prevailing market price for 

12 broadband service and the prevailing speed of 

13 broadband service adopted by households. To 

14 fulfill this requirement, the Commission shall 

15 rely on information that it routinely collects or 

16 that is publicly available. 

17 ‘‘(E) TECHNOLOGY NEUTRAL.—The Com18 mission shall ensure that the broadband lifeline 

19 program is neutral as to the types of technology 

20 used to provide broadband service to promote 

21 competition from broadband service providers to 

22 qualify under such program. A broadband serv23 ice provider need not be an eligible tele24 communications carrier to receive support 

25 under the broadband lifeline program, but such 


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1 provider shall obtain authorization from the 

2 Commission in order to participate in the pro3 gram.’’. 

Æ 


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