I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6336 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide grants for access 

to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2016 

Mr. POCAN (for himself and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide 

grants for access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, 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 Connec5 tions for Rural Opportunities Program Act of 2016’’ or 

6 the ‘‘B-CROP Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

2 SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 

3 Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

4 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘loans and’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, and’’; 

7 (2) in subsection (c)— 

8 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

9 ‘‘LOANS AND’’ and inserting ‘‘GRANTS, LOANS, 

10 AND’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘make 

12 grants and’’ after ‘‘Secretary shall’’; and 

13 (C) by striking paragraph (2) and insert14 ing the following: 

15 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In making grants, 

17 loans, or loan guarantees under paragraph (1), 

18 the Secretary shall— 

19 ‘‘(i) establish one ongoing evaluation 

20 period for each fiscal year to compare 

21 grant, loan, and loan guarantee applica22 tions and to prioritize grants, loans, and 

23 loan guarantees to all or part of rural com24 munities that do not have residential 

25 broadband service that meets the minimum 


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1 acceptable level of broadband service estab2 lished under subsection (e); 

3 ‘‘(ii) give the highest priority to appli4 cants that offer to provide broadband serv5 ice to the greatest proportion of unserved 

6 rural households or rural households that 

7 do not have residential broadband service 

8 that meets the minimum acceptable level of 

9 broadband service established under sub10 section (e), as— 

11 ‘‘(I) certified by the affected 

12 community, city, county, or designee; 

13 or 

14 ‘‘(II) demonstrated on— 

15 ‘‘(aa) the broadband map of 

16 the affected State if the map con17 tains address-level data; or 

18 ‘‘(bb) the National 

19 Broadband Map if address-level 

20 data is unavailable; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) provide equal consideration to 

22 all qualified applicants, including those 

23 that have not previously received grants, 

24 loans, or loan guarantees under paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 ‘‘(B) OTHER.—After giving priority to the 

2 applicants described in subparagraph (A), the 

3 Secretary shall then give priority to projects 

4 that serve rural communities— 

5 ‘‘(i) with a population of less than 

6 10,000 permanent residents; 

7 ‘‘(ii) experiencing outmigration; 

8 ‘‘(iii) with a high percentage of low-in9 come residents; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) that are isolated from other sig11 nificant population centers. 

12 ‘‘(3) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a 

14 grant under this section, the project that is the 

15 subject of the grant shall be carried out in a 

16 rural area. 

17 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM.—Except as provided in 

18 subparagraph (D), the amount of any grant 

19 made under this section shall not exceed 50 

20 percent of the development costs of the project 

21 for which the grant is provided. 

22 ‘‘(C) GRANT RATE.—The Secretary shall 

23 establish the grant rate for each project in ac24 cordance with regulations issued by the Sec25 retary that shall provide for a graduated scale 


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1 of grant rates that establish higher rates for 

2 projects in communities that have— 

3 ‘‘(i) remote locations; 

4 ‘‘(ii) low community populations; 

5 ‘‘(iii) low income levels; 

6 ‘‘(iv) developed the applications of the 

7 communities with the participation of com8 binations of stakeholders, including— 

9 ‘‘(I) State, local, and tribal gov10 ernments; 

11 ‘‘(II) nonprofit institutions; 

12 ‘‘(III) institutions of higher edu13 cation; 

14 ‘‘(IV) private entities; and 

15 ‘‘(V) philanthropic organizations; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(v) targeted funding to provide the 

18 minimum acceptable level of broadband 

19 service established under subsection (e) in 

20 all or part of an unserved community that 

21 is below that minimum acceptable level of 

22 broadband service. 

23 ‘‘(D) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO AD24 JUST.—The Secretary may make grants of up 

25 to 75 percent of the development costs of the 


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1 project for which the grant is provided to an el2 igible entity if the Secretary determines that 

3 the project serves a remote or low income area 

4 that does not have access to broadband service 

5 from any provider of broadband service (includ6 ing the applicant).’’; 

7 (3) in subsection (d)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

9 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

10 by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, 

11 loan, or’’; 

12 (ii) by striking clause (i) and inserting 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(i) demonstrate the ability— 

15 ‘‘(I) to furnish, improve in order 

16 to meet the minimum acceptable level 

17 of broadband service established 

18 under subsection (e), or extend 

19 broadband service to all or part of an 

20 unserved rural area or an area below 

21 the minimum acceptable level of 

22 broadband service established under 

23 subsection (e); or 

24 ‘‘(II) to carry out a project under 

25 paragraph (4)(B)(ii);’’; 


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1 (iii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘a loan 

2 application’’ and inserting ‘‘an applica3 tion’’; and 

4 (iv) in clause (iii)— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘the loan applica6 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘the application’’; 

7 and 

8 (II) by striking ‘‘proceeds from 

9 the loan made or guaranteed under 

10 this section are’’ and inserting ‘‘as11 sistance under this section is’’; 

12 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

14 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

15 (i)— 

16 (aa) by striking ‘‘the pro17 ceeds of a loan made or guaran18 teed’’ and inserting ‘‘assistance’’; 

19 and 

20 (bb) by striking ‘‘for the 

21 loan or loan guarantee’’ and in22 serting ‘‘of the eligible entity’’; 

23 and 

24 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘2’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

2 clause (ii) and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTIONS.—Clause (i) shall 

4 not apply if the applicant is eligible for 

5 funding under another title of this Act.’’; 

6 (C) in paragraph (3), in subparagraph (A), 

7 by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, 

8 loan, or’’; 

9 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘loan 

10 or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

11 (E) in paragraph (5)(A), in the matter 

12 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

14 (F) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; and 

16 (G) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘a loan 

17 application’’ and inserting ‘‘an application’’; 

18 (4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘make a loan 

19 or loan guarantee’’ and inserting ‘‘provide assist20 ance’’; 

21 (5) in subsection (j)— 

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

23 by striking ‘‘loan and loan guarantee’’; 

24 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘grants 

25 and’’ after ‘‘number of’’; 


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1 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

3 ‘‘loan’’; and 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

5 ‘‘loans and’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, 

6 and’’; and 

7 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘loan’’; 

8 (6) by redesignating subsections (k) and (l) as 

9 subsections (l) and (m), respectively; 

10 (7) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(k) BROADBAND BUILDOUT DATA.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving 

14 a grant, loan, or loan guarantee under this section, 

15 a recipient of assistance shall provide to the Sec16 retary address-level broadband buildout data that in17 dicates the location of new broadband service that is 

18 being provided or upgraded within the service terri19 tory supported by the grant, loan, or loan guar20 antee— 

21 ‘‘(A) for purposes of inclusion in the semi22 annual updates to the National Broadband Map 

23 that is managed by the National Telecommuni24 cations and Information Administration (reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6336.IH H6336

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1 ferred to in this subsection as the ‘Administra2 tion’); and 

3 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the ear4 lier of— 

5 ‘‘(i) the date of completion of any 

6 project milestone established by the Sec7 retary; or 

8 ‘‘(ii) the date of completion of the 

9 project. 

10 ‘‘(2) ADDRESS-LEVEL DATA.—Effective begin11 ning on the date the Administration receives data 

12 described in paragraph (1), the Administration shall 

13 use only address-level broadband buildout data for 

14 the National Broadband Map. 

15 ‘‘(3) CORRECTIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

17 submit to the Administration any correction to 

18 the National Broadband Map that is based on 

19 the actual level of broadband coverage within 

20 the rural area, including any requests for a cor21 rection from an elected or economic develop22 ment official. 

23 ‘‘(B) INCORPORATION.—Not later than 30 

24 days after the date on which the Administration 

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1 graph (A), the Administration shall incorporate 

2 the correction into the National Broadband 

3 Map. 

4 ‘‘(C) USE.—If the Secretary has submitted 

5 a correction to the Administration under sub6 paragraph (A), but the National Broadband 

7 Map has not been updated to reflect the correct 

8 by the date on which the Secretary is making 

9 a grant or loan award decision under this sec10 tion, the Secretary may use the correction sub11 mitted under that subparagraph for purposes of 

12 make the grant or loan award decision.’’; 

13 (8) subsection (l) (as redesignated by paragraph 

14 (6))— 

15 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking 

16 ‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000,000’’; 

17 and 

18 (B) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

19 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

20 the end; 

21 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe22 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (iii) by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(iii) set aside at least 1 percent to be 

2 used for— 

3 ‘‘(I) conducting oversight under 

4 this section; and 

5 ‘‘(II) implementing accountability 

6 measures and related activities au7 thorized under this section.’’; and 

8 (9) in subsection (m) (as redesignated by para9 graph (6)), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘grant, loan, or’’. 

Æ 


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