II 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 98 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting 

process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program 

funding. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 15, 2025 

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for 

high-cost universal service program funding. 

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 ‘‘Rural Broadband Pro5 tection Act of 2025’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST 

2 UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS. 

3 Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

4 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(m) VETTING OF HIGH-COST FUND RECIPIENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

8 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered funding’ means any 

9 new offer of high-cost universal service program 

10 funding, including funding provided through a 

11 reverse competitive bidding mechanism provided 

12 under this section, for the deployment of a 

13 broadband-capable network and the provision of 

14 supported services over the network; and 

15 ‘‘(B) the term ‘new covered funding award’ 

16 means an award of covered funding that is 

17 made based on an application submitted to the 

18 Commission on or after the date on which rules 

19 are promulgated under paragraph (2). 

20 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION RULEMAKING.—Not later 

21 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

22 subsection, the Commission shall initiate a rule23 making proceeding to establish a vetting process for 

24 applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered 

25 funding award. 

26 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In promulgating rules 

2 under paragraph (2), the Commission shall pro3 vide that, consistent with principles of tech4 nology neutrality, the Commission will only 

5 award covered funding to applicants that can 

6 demonstrate that they meet the qualifications in 

7 subparagraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(B) QUALIFICATIONS DESCRIBED.—An 

9 applicant for a new covered funding award shall 

10 include in the initial application a proposal con11 taining sufficient detail and documentation for 

12 the Commission to ascertain that the applicant 

13 possesses the technical, financial, and oper14 ational capabilities, and has a reasonable busi15 ness plan, to deploy the proposed network and 

16 deliver services with the relevant performance 

17 characteristics and requirements defined by the 

18 Commission and as pledged by the applicant. 

19 ‘‘(C) EVALUATION OF PROPOSAL.—The 

20 Commission shall evaluate a proposal described 

21 in subparagraph (B) against— 

22 ‘‘(i) reasonable and well-established 

23 technical, financial, and operational stand24 ards, including the technical standards 

25 adopted by the Commission in orders of 


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1 the Commission relating to Establishing 

2 the Digital Opportunity Data Collection 

3 (WC Docket No. 19–195) (or orders of the 

4 Commission relating to modernizing any 

5 successor collection) for purposes of enti6 ties that must report broadband avail7 ability coverage; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the applicant’s history of com9 plying with requirements in Commission 

10 and other government broadband deploy11 ment funding programs. 

12 ‘‘(D) PENALTIES FOR PRE-AUTHORIZATION

13 DEFAULTS.—In adopting rules for any new cov14 ered funding award, the Commission shall set a 

15 penalty for pre-authorization defaults of at least 

16 $9,000 per violation and may not limit the base 

17 forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of 

18 the applicant’s total support, unless the Com19 mission demonstrates the need for lower pen20 alties in a particular instance.’’. 

Æ 


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