I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 427 

To amend section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 to provide reporting requirements for recipients of funds that provide access in rural 

and high cost areas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2019 

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, and Mr. 

LOUDERMILK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 

to provide reporting requirements for recipients of funds 

that provide access in rural and high cost 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 ‘‘Connect America Fund 

5 Accountability Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR CONNECT AMER2 ICA FUND. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 254 of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(l) CONNECT AMERICA FUND REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIREMENTS.—Any covered 

8 telecommunications carrier shall submit to the Com9 mission a report in accordance with the require10 ments of any rule or regulation promulgated by the 

11 Commission with regard to performance testing re12 quired for Connect America Fund recipients that in13 cludes the following: 

14 ‘‘(A) The method of performance testing 

15 chosen by the covered telecommunications car16 rier to demonstrate compliance with Connect 

17 America Fund model-based support. 

18 ‘‘(B) If a covered telecommunications car19 rier chooses to use self-testing software for the 

20 performance testing described in subparagraph 

21 (A), once every three years, information on the 

22 software and methodology used to conduct the 

23 test, including any algorithm or process relied 

24 on within the self-testing software. 

25 ‘‘(C) A speed and latency report in the 

26 final quarter of the calendar year that includes 


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1 a list of customer locations tested more than 

2 twice during the year. 

3 ‘‘(2) REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF CON4 SUMERS.—Any covered telecommunications carrier 

5 when randomly choosing a testing pool for the per6 formance testing described in paragraph (1)(A) shall 

7 ensure the sample of consumers tested is representa8 tive of the number of residences and businesses in 

9 the Connect America Fund service area being re10 ported on. 

11 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATIVE

12 COMPANY.— 

13 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION OF AUDITS.—In de14 termining whether or not to conduct an audit of 

15 a covered telecommunications carrier, the Ad16 ministrator shall consider the number and fre17 quency of complaints submitted to the Commis18 sion for the broadband service of that carrier. 

19 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF AUDITS.— 

20 Any audit conducted by the Administrator shall 

21 be made available to the public. 

22 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

23 ‘‘(A) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Admin24 istrator’ means the administrator of the Federal 


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1 universal service support mechanisms estab2 lished under this section. 

3 ‘‘(B) COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS

4 CARRIER.—The term ‘covered telecommuni5 cations carrier’ means an eligible telecommuni6 cations carrier that provides fixed broadband 

7 internet access service and is subject to the 

8 speed and latency testing requirements set forth 

9 in any rule or regulation promulgated by the 

10 Commission with regard to Connect America 

11 Fund recipients.’’. 

12 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub13 section (a) shall only apply with respect to support re14 ceived from the Connect America Fund established by the 

15 Federal Communications Commission pursuant to its au16 thorities under section 254 of the Communications Act of 

17 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) on or after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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