IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1144 

Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all Americans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 

Ms. HAALAND (for herself and Mr. KHANNA) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing broadband as a human and civil right for all 

Americans. 

Whereas, in 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council 

passed a resolution affirming that the same rights people 

have offline must be protected online and called for countries to promote and facilitate access to the internet to 

develop knowledgeable societies with the realization of the 

right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of 

peaceful assembly and association, and the right to education; 

Whereas the First Amendment to the Constitution protects 

the freedom of speech and expression for all persons, and 

the Supreme Court has ruled that speech and expression 

on the internet is included in such protections; 


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•HRES 1144 IH 

Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 

published the National Broadband Plan in 2010 to bring 

broadband to all Americans but, as of 2020, 22.3 percent 

of Americans living in rural areas lacked access to fixed 

broadband services, compared to only 1.5 percent of 

Americans living in urban areas; 

Whereas digital divides contribute to and exacerbate poverty 

and inequality in modern society by prohibiting equal access to public services, employment opportunities, educational resources, basic liberties, and fundamental rights 

guaranteed to all Americans; 

Whereas, in April 2020, the Department of Health and 

Human Services found that more than 1 in 6 people with 

incomes below the Federal poverty level had no access to 

the internet, and 18 percent of people with incomes below 

100 percent of the Federal poverty level lacked internet 

access, compared to only 3 percent of people with incomes at or above 400 percent of the Federal poverty 

level; 

Whereas, in 2018, the Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) found that only 65 percent of American Indians, 

Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians living on Tribal 

lands had access to fixed broadband services, and only 69 

percent of households on Tribal lands have telephone 

services; 

Whereas the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) estimates 

that up to 95 percent of students attending BIE facilities 

lack residential internet services during the COVID–19 

pandemic; 


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Whereas the GAO has further found that FCC data has overstated statistics relating to broadband availability and 

digital access on Tribal lands in the United States; 

Whereas the 2017 statistics of the National Center for Education Statistics in the Department of Education showed 

that 34.1 percent of all higher education students engage 

in some form of online education courses, a 5.7-percent 

increase in enrollment in online higher education from 

the previous year; 

Whereas the percentage of students enrolled in online education courses significantly increased during the pandemic and educational administrators have made remote 

and online learning for the 2020–2021 academic year 

available to avoid public health risks; 

Whereas increased access to broadband promotes economic 

competition, entrepreneurship, and efficiency; 

Whereas the World Bank found that every 10 percent increase in fixed broadband penetration accelerates economic growth by 1.21 percent in developed economies 

and 1.38 percent in developing economies; 

Whereas counties with higher rates of broadband availability 

have lower unemployment rates, and broadband helps 

service industry businesses overcome geographic barriers 

that have traditionally hampered rural growth; 

Whereas the American Medical Informatics Association and 

other public health experts have called access to wireless 

broadband services a social determinant of health; 

Whereas data from the American Community Survey of the 

Bureau of the Census shows that approximately 

5,000,000 households with school-age children do not 

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proportionate share being low-income African-American 

or Hispanic/Latino households, and low-income households are 4 times more likely than middle- or high-income 

households to lack broadband access; 

Whereas the United States is a signatory of the Convention 

on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls on 

countries to take appropriate measures to promote access 

for persons with disabilities to new information and communication technology and systems, which can only be 

achieved through continued access to communication 

technologies; and 

Whereas intentional disruptions of internet access have been 

used in countries across the globe to crack down on 

human rights, limit communication, and harm freedom of 

association: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

3 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband for 

4 All Resolution of 2020’’. 

5 SEC. 2. RECOGNIZING BROADBAND AS A HUMAN AND CIVIL 

6 RIGHT FOR ALL AMERICANS. 

7 The House of Representatives— 

8 (1) recognizes that equal access to affordable 

9 and reliable fixed broadband services for all Ameri10 cans is a civil and human right that protects and 

11 promotes the fair, equal, and impartial treatment of 

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1 nicity, language, religion, economic status, or any 

2 other status; 

3 (2) asserts that affordable access to broadband 

4 enables the promotion and propagation of human 

5 rights, including equal access to information, govern6 ment services, use of public facilities, freedom from 

7 discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of 

8 peaceful assembly and association, and the right to 

9 education; 

10 (3) recognizes that affordable access to 

11 broadband promotes equal access for engagement in 

12 our democracy and the exercise of constitutionally 

13 vested rights; 

14 (4) reaffirms the global and open nature of the 

15 internet as a driving force in accelerating progress 

16 toward development in its various forms, including 

17 achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 

18 United Nations; 

19 (5) acknowledges that the human right to af20 fordable access to broadband may only be limited or 

21 restricted if such restriction is provided for by law 

22 and is nondiscriminatory, necessary, and propor23 tionate to a legitimate purpose, such as to protect 

24 the rights of others, national security, or to protect 

25 public order or health; and 


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1 (6) calls on the President— 

2 (A) to preserve and build upon the techno3 logical leadership of the Federal Government 

4 and Federal funding opportunities for all Amer5 icans to affordable access to fixed broadband 

6 services and infrastructure development to 

7 bridge the digital divide, especially for low-in8 come households and households with incomes 

9 below the Federal poverty line; 

10 (B) to preserve and build upon the techno11 logical leadership of the Federal Government 

12 and Federal funding opportunities for fixed 

13 broadband expansion and infrastructure devel14 opment, especially in rural areas and on Tribal 

15 lands, and in broadband deserts; 

16 (C) to ensure that Tribal sovereignty over 

17 access to electromagnetic spectrum on Tribal 

18 lands is protected as part of the Federal trust 

19 responsibility in furtherance of Tribal self-gov20 ernance; and 

21 (D) to further address the threat posed by 

22 lack of affordable access to broadband to the 

23 civil and human rights of all Americans, espe24 cially since the COVID–19 pandemic has furVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1144.IH HR1144

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1 ther highlighted the growing digital divide in 

2 the United States. 

Æ 


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