I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3999 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for a credit against 

tax for placing in service qualified broadband property to expand the 

level of broadband service in a qualified rural census tract. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Mr. BERGMAN (for himself, Mr. ABRAHAM, and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for 

a credit against tax for placing in service qualified 

broadband property to expand the level of broadband 

service in a qualified rural census tract. 

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 

5 Connectivity Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL BROADBAND TAX CREDIT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart E of part IV of sub8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by inserting after subsection 48C the 

2 following new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 48D. RURAL BROADBAND CREDIT. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of section 38, 

5 the rural broadband credit for any taxable year is an 

6 amount equal to 30 percent of the basis of qualified 

7 broadband property placed in service by the taxpayer dur8 ing such taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(b) CAP ON CREDIT AMOUNT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the credit 

11 allowable to a taxpayer under subsection (a) for any 

12 property for a taxable year shall not exceed an 

13 amount equal to the product of— 

14 ‘‘(A) the value of the number of qualified 

15 potential customers served by the qualifying 

16 broadband project for which such property is 

17 necessary, multiplied by 

18 ‘‘(B) $170. 

19 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED POTENTIAL CUSTOMER.—For 

20 purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified potential 

21 customer’ means, with respect to a taxpayer, an in22 dividual— 

23 ‘‘(A) who resides in a qualified rural cen24 sus tract, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) whom such taxpayer demonstrates to 

2 the satisfaction of the Secretary would upon re3 quest be provided broadband service by the tax4 payer for a customary charge for commencing 

5 broadband service of no more than $1,000. 

6 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED BROADBAND PROPERTY.—For the 

7 purposes of this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

9 broadband property’ means property necessary for a 

10 qualifying broadband project. 

11 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING BROADBAND PROJECT.—The 

12 term ‘qualifying broadband project’ means any 

13 project designed to expand the number of individuals 

14 with broadband service in a qualified rural census 

15 tract. 

16 ‘‘(3) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 

17 ‘broadband service’ means broadband service (as de18 fined in section 601(b) of the Rural Electrification 

19 Act of 1936) that meets the minimum acceptable 

20 level for such service (as established by the Sec21 retary of Agriculture pursuant to section 601(e) of 

22 the Rural Electrification Act of 1936). 

23 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED RURAL CENSUS TRACT.—The 

24 term ‘qualified rural census tract’ means a census 

25 tract designated not later than the last day of the 


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1 fourth month beginning after the date of the enact2 ment of this section by the Secretary (in consulta3 tion with the Chairman of the Federal Communica4 tions Commission, the Assistant Secretary of Com5 merce for Communications and Information who is 

6 head of the National Telecommunications and Infor7 mation Administration, and the Secretary of Agri8 culture) as— 

9 ‘‘(A) being rural, 

10 ‘‘(B) having less than 50 percent of resi11 dents with access to broadband service, and 

12 ‘‘(C) being underserved and not at risk of 

13 experiencing duplicative service expansion or 

14 overbuilding of existing broadband infrastruc15 ture. 

16 ‘‘(d) CARRYOVER OF CERTAIN AMOUNTS.—If, for the 

17 taxable year, the amount which (but for subsection (b)) 

18 would have been taken into account under subsection (a) 

19 exceeds the limitation of subsection (b), then the amount 

20 of such excess shall be taken into account under sub21 section (a) for the succeeding taxable year. 

22 ‘‘(e) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 

23 property placed in service after the last day of the tenth 

24 calendar year beginning after the date of the enactment 

25 of this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (6) of 

2 section 46 of such Code is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(6) the rural broadband credit.’’. 

4 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 for subpart E of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

6 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 48D. Rural Broadband Credit.’’. 

8 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 

10 the last day of the fourth month beginning after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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