II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1190 

To promote the deployment and adoption of telecommunications services and 

information technologies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 24, 2007 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. SMITH, and Mr. OBAMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To promote the deployment and adoption of telecommunications services and information technologies, 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 The Nation 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The deployment and adoption of broadband 

9 services and information technology has resulted in 


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1 enhanced economic development and public safety 

2 for communities across the Nation, improved health 

3 care and educational opportunities, and a better 

4 quality of life for all Americans. 

5 (2) Continued progress in the deployment and 

6 adoption of broadband and other advanced informa7 tion services is vital to ensuring that our Nation re8 mains competitive and continues to create business 

9 and job growth. 

10 (3) The Federal Government should also recog11 nize and encourage complementary state efforts to 

12 improve the quality and usefulness of broadband 

13 data and should encourage and support the partner14 ship of the public and private sectors in the contin15 ued growth of broadband services and information 

16 technology for the residents and businesses of the 

17 Nation. 

18 SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE 

19 BROADBAND. 

20 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of any grant under 

21 subsection (b) are— 

22 (1) to ensure that all citizens and businesses in 

23 a State have access to affordable and reliable 

24 broadband service; 


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1 (2) to achieve improved technology literacy, in2 creased computer ownership, and home broadband 

3 use among such citizens and businesses; 

4 (3) to establish and empower local grassroots 

5 technology teams in each State to plan for improved 

6 technology use across multiple community sectors; 

7 and 

8 (4) to establish and sustain an environment 

9 ripe for broadband services and information tech10 nology investment. 

11 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE BROADBAND DATA

12 AND DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 

14 shall award grants, taking into account the results 

15 of the peer review process under subsection (d), to 

16 eligible entities for the development and implementa17 tion of statewide initiatives to identify and track the 

18 availability and adoption of broadband services with19 in each State. 

20 (2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Any grant under 

21 subsection (b) shall be awarded on a competitive 

22 basis. 

23 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

24 under subsection (b), an eligible entity shall— 


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1 (1) submit an application to the Secretary of 

2 Commerce, at such time, in such manner, and con3 taining such information as the Secretary may re4 quire; and 

5 (2) contribute matching non-Federal funds in 

6 an amount equal to not less than 20 percent of the 

7 total amount of the grant. 

8 (d) PEER REVIEW.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by regu10 lation require appropriate technical and scientific 

11 peer review of applications made for grants under 

12 this section. 

13 (2) REVIEW PROCEDURES.—The regulations re14 quired under paragraph (1) shall require that any 

15 technical and scientific peer review group— 

16 (A) be provided a written description of 

17 the grant to be reviewed; 

18 (B) provide the results of any review by 

19 such group to the Secretary of Commerce; and 

20 (C) certify that such group will enter into 

21 voluntary nondisclosure agreements as nec22 essary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of 

23 confidential and propriety information provided 

24 by broadband service providers in connection 

25 with projects funded by any such grant. 


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1 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded to an eligible 

2 entity under subsection (b) shall be used— 

3 (1) to provide a baseline assessment of 

4 broadband service deployment in each State; 

5 (2) to identify and track— 

6 (A) areas in each State that have low lev7 els of broadband service deployment; 

8 (B) the rate at which residential and busi9 ness adopt broadband service and other related 

10 information technology services; and 

11 (C) possible suppliers of such services; 

12 (3) to identify barriers to the adoption by indi13 viduals and businesses of broadband service and re14 lated information technology services, including 

15 whether or not— 

16 (A) the demand for such services is absent; 

17 and 

18 (B) the supply for such services is capable 

19 of meeting the demand for such services; 

20 (4) to create and facilitate in each county or 

21 designated region in a State a local technology plan22 ning team— 

23 (A) with members representing a cross sec24 tion of the community, including representatives 

25 of business, telecommunications labor organizaVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:02 Apr 25, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1190.IS S1190

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1 tions, K-12 education, health care, libraries, 

2 higher education, community-based organiza3 tions, local government, tourism, parks and 

4 recreation, and agriculture; and 

5 (B) which shall— 

6 (i) benchmark technology use across 

7 relevant community sectors; 

8 (ii) set goals for improved technology 

9 use within each sector; and 

10 (iii) develop a tactical business plan 

11 for achieving its goals, with specific rec12 ommendations for online application devel13 opment and demand creation; 

14 (5) to work collaboratively with broadband serv15 ice providers and information technology companies 

16 to encourage deployment and use, especially in 

17 unserved and underserved areas, through the use of 

18 local demand aggregation, mapping analysis, and the 

19 creation of market intelligence to improve the busi20 ness case for providers to deploy; 

21 (6) to establish programs to improve computer 

22 ownership and Internet access for unserved and un23 derserved populations; 


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1 (7) to collect and analyze detailed market data 

2 concerning the use and demand for broadband serv3 ice and related information technology services; 

4 (8) to facilitate information exchange regarding 

5 the use and demand for broadband services between 

6 public and private sectors; and 

7 (9) to create within each State a geographic in8 ventory map of broadband service, which shall— 

9 (A) identify gaps in such service through a 

10 method of geographic information system map11 ping of service availability at the census block 

12 level; and 

13 (B) provide a baseline assessment of state14 wide broadband deployment in terms of house15 holds with high-speed availability. 

16 (f) PARTICIPATION LIMIT.—For each State, an eligi17 ble entity may not receive a new grant under this section 

18 to fund the activities described in subsection (d) within 

19 such State if such organization obtained prior grant 

20 awards under this section to fund the same activities in 

21 that State in each of the previous 4 consecutive years. 

22 (g) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under sub23 section (b) shall submit a report on the use of the funds 

24 provided by the grant to the Secretary of Commerce. 

25 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti2 ty’’ means a non-profit organization that is selected 

3 by a State to work in partnership with State agen4 cies and private sector partners in identifying and 

5 tracking the availability and adoption of broadband 

6 services within each State. 

7 (2) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

8 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization— 

9 (A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the 

10 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt 

11 from tax under section 501(a) of such Code; 

12 (B) no part of the net earnings of which 

13 inures to the benefit of any member, founder, 

14 contributor, or individual; 

15 (C) that has an established competency 

16 and proven record of working with public and 

17 private sectors to accomplish widescale deploy18 ment and adoption of broadband services and 

19 information technology; and 

20 (D) the board of directors of which is not 

21 composed of a majority of individuals who are 

22 also employed by, or otherwise associated with, 

23 any Federal, State, or local government or any 

24 Federal, State, or local agency. 


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1 (3) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 

2 ‘‘broadband service’’ means any service that con3 nects to the public Internet that provides a data 

4 transmission-rate equivalent to at least 200 kilobits 

5 per second, or 200,000 bits per second, or any suc6 cessor transmission-rate established by the Federal 

7 Communications Commission, in at least 1 direction. 

8 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

10 $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 

11 (j) NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 

12 Act shall be construed as giving any public or private enti13 ty established or affected by this Act any regulatory juris14 diction or oversight authority over providers of broadband 

15 services or information technology. 

Æ 


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