II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1197 

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect 

the ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships, 

and cooperatives to provide broadband services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KING, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

SANDERS, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve 

and protect the ability of State and local governments, 

public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to provide 

broadband services. 

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 ‘‘Community Broadband 

5 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, 

2 AND CO-OP BROADBAND SERVICES. 

3 Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 

4 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub6 section (e); 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(d) STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNER10 SHIP, AND CO-OP ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CA11 PABILITY AND SERVICES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No statute, regulation, or 

13 other legal requirement of a State may prohibit or 

14 have the effect of prohibiting any public provider, 

15 public-private partnership provider, or cooperatively 

16 organized provider from providing, to any person or 

17 public or private entity, advanced telecommuni18 cations capability or any service that utilizes the ad19 vanced telecommunications capability provided by 

20 that provider. 

21 ‘‘(2) ANTIDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC PROVIDERS.—To the extent 

23 any public provider regulates competing private 

24 providers of advanced telecommunications capa25 bility or services that utilize advanced tele26 communications capability, the public provider 


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1 shall apply its ordinances and rules without dis2 crimination in favor of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the public provider; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) any entity owned by the public 

5 provider that provides services that utilize 

6 advanced telecommunications capability. 

7 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO8 VIDERS.—To the extent any State or local enti9 ty that is part of a public-private partnership 

10 provider regulates competing private providers 

11 of advanced telecommunications capability or 

12 services that utilize advanced telecommuni13 cations capability, the State or local entity shall 

14 apply its ordinances and rules without discrimi15 nation in favor of— 

16 ‘‘(i) the public-private partnership 

17 provider; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) any entity owned by the State or 

19 local entity or public-private partnership 

20 provider that provides services that utilize 

21 advanced telecommunications capability. 

22 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub23 section shall exempt a public provider, public-private 

24 partnership provider, or cooperatively organized pro25 vider from any Federal or State telecommunications 


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1 law or regulation that applies to all providers of ad2 vanced telecommunications capability or services 

3 that utilize such advanced telecommunications capa4 bility.’’; and 

5 (3) in subsection (e), as redesignated— 

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

7 by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘this section’’; 

9 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

10 paragraph (3); 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(2) COOPERATIVELY ORGANIZED PROVIDER.— 

14 The term ‘cooperatively organized provider’ means 

15 an entity that is treated as a cooperative under Fed16 eral tax law and that provides advanced telecommu17 nications capability, or any service that utilizes such 

18 advanced telecommunications capability, to any per19 son or public or private entity.’’; and 

20 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘public pro22 vider’ means a State or local entity that provides ad23 vanced telecommunications capability, or any service 

24 that utilizes such advanced telecommunications ca25 pability, to any person or public or private entity. 


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1 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PRO2 VIDER.—The term ‘public-private partnership pro3 vider’ means a public-private partnership, between a 

4 State or local entity and a private entity, that pro5 vides advanced telecommunications capability, or any 

6 service that utilizes such advanced telecommuni7 cations capability, to any person or public or private 

8 entity. 

9 ‘‘(6) STATE OR LOCAL ENTITY.—The term 

10 ‘State or local entity’ means— 

11 ‘‘(A) a State or political subdivision there12 of; 

13 ‘‘(B) any agency, authority, or instrumen14 tality of a State or political subdivision thereof; 

15 or 

16 ‘‘(C) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 

17 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu18 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e))).’’. 

Æ 


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