I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9066 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

Information to establish a pilot program to provide innovation grants 

to established State broadband offices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Ms. SCHRIER (for herself and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish a pilot program 

to provide innovation grants to established State 

broadband offices, 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 ‘‘State Broadband Of5 fice Innovation Pilot Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INNOVATION PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 30 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the As3 sistant Secretary shall establish a pilot program to 

4 provide grants to eligible State broadband offices for 

5 new projects to increase broadband connectivity, ac6 celerate deployment of broadband, or establish af7 fordable broadband access to underserved popu8 lations that includes any of the following: 

9 (A) Mapping and data collection of areas 

10 of connectivity, underserved areas, and 

11 unserved areas to improve efforts to map, col12 lect data, and supplement ongoing efforts. 

13 (B) Planning and program evaluation of 

14 broadband to establish or incentivize affordable 

15 options. 

16 (C) Engaging unserved or underserved 

17 farms for the purpose of enabling precision ag18 riculture or other purposes. 

19 (D) A project that makes networks more 

20 reliable and resilient to natural disasters. 

21 (E) Any State, local, or Tribal project that 

22 engages in creative solutions to ensure more un23 derserved populations have access to affordable, 

24 high-quality broadband and a latency that is 


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1 sufficiently low to allow real-time, interactive 

2 applications. 

3 (2) PARTNERSHIPS.—An eligible State 

4 broadband office may engage in partnerships with 

5 public, private, or other entities (including public 

6 utilities districts) in a project described under para7 graph (1). 

8 (b) SOURCE OF FUNDING.—Any grant made under 

9 this section shall be in addition to any other grant made 

10 by the Federal Government and shall not be a violation 

11 of any other grant requirement restricting or prohibiting 

12 the Federal Government as a source of funding. 

13 (c) PUBLIC OUTREACH.—The Assistant Secretary— 

14 (1) shall notify the public about the pilot pro15 gram under this section by— 

16 (A) publishing a description of the pro17 gram, including when and how to apply, on the 

18 NTIA website; and 

19 (B) disseminating such description through 

20 social media or other means; and 

21 (2) shall notify State broadband offices and 

22 offer those offices technical assistance for applying 

23 for a grant under this section. 

24 (d) APPLICATION AND DEADLINE TO APPLY.—To be 

25 eligible to participate in the pilot program under this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jan 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9066.IH H9066

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1 tion, an eligible State broadband office shall submit to the 

2 Assistant Secretary an application that describes how any 

3 funds granted will be used, in such a form and in such 

4 a manner as the Assistant Secretary may require not later 

5 than 60 days after the date on which the program is estab6 lished pursuant to subsection (a). 

7 (e) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—Not later than 5 

8 months after the date on which the program is established 

9 pursuant to subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall 

10 disburse funds to those eligible State broadband offices se11 lected by the Assistant Secretary to receive grants under 

12 this section. 

13 (f) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

14 (1) PROJECT ESTABLISHMENT AND FIRST YEAR

15 REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the receipt of 

16 any grant made under this section, the eligible State 

17 broadband office shall commit funds for any project 

18 funded with the grant and submit to the Assistant 

19 Secretary a report that includes the following: 

20 (A) An accounting of how grant funds 

21 were used. 

22 (B) A summary of— 

23 (i) the completed project; or 

24 (ii) progress made on the project and 

25 a detailed timeline for completion. 


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1 (C) A description of whether the project 

2 was successful, including if goals were met, and 

3 the following information, if applicable: 

4 (i) The number of previously under5 served or unserved households now served. 

6 (ii) The percentage of households in 

7 State connected to broadband. 

8 (iii) Any project improvements that 

9 would increase the affordability of 

10 broadband. 

11 (D) Any recommendations for further im12 provements on the project. 

13 (2) REPORT ON COMPLETION.—With regard to 

14 any project not completed by the submission of the 

15 report required pursuant to paragraph (1), not later 

16 than 30 days after the date on which the project is 

17 completed, the eligible State broadband office shall 

18 submit to the Assistant Secretary a report that in19 cludes the information described under subpara20 graphs (A), (B)(i), (C), and (D). 

21 (g) TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND OVER22 SIGHT REQUIRED.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In implementing this sec24 tion, the Assistant Secretary shall adopt measures to 

25 ensure sufficient transparency, accountability, and 


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1 oversight to provide the public with information re2 garding the award and use of grant funds under this 

3 section, and to deter waste, fraud, and abuse of 

4 grant funds. 

5 (2) REVIEW OF REPORT.—The Assistant Sec6 retary shall review any report submitted pursuant to 

7 subsection (e) and consider any new ideas from 

8 those reports for future NTIA projects. 

9 (3) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION.—The recipi10 ent of any grant made under this section shall re11 spond to any request made by the Assistant Sec12 retary for more information or documentation re13 lated to the project funded through the grant. 

14 (4) MISUSE OF FUNDS.—The Assistant Sec15 retary may prohibit any grant recipient from other 

16 grants made by NTIA if the Assistant Secretary de17 termines there has been a misuse of funds under 

18 this section. 

19 (5) RECOVERY OF UNAUTHORIZED USE OF

20 FUNDS.—To the extent that the Inspector General 

21 of the Department of Commerce determines that an 

22 eligible entity expended grant funds received under 

23 this section in violation of this section, the Assistant 

24 Secretary shall recover the amount of funds that 

25 were so expended. 


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1 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Assistant Sec3 retary to carry out this section $50,000,000 for the fiscal 

4 year in which grants are disbursed pursuant to subsection 

5 (d). Funds shall remain available until expended. 

6 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist8 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

9 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

10 (2) BROADBAND.—The term ‘‘broadband’’ has 

11 the meaning given the term ‘‘broadband internet ac12 cess service’’ in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of 

13 Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. 

14 (3) ELIGIBLE STATE BROADBAND OFFICE.— 

15 The term ‘‘eligible State broadband office’’ means 

16 an office located in a State with at least one em17 ployee whose salary is funded with State resources 

18 and whose primary focus is broadband build out and 

19 monitoring. 

20 (4) NTIA.—The term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the Na21 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin22 istration. 

Æ 


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