I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1752 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to 

provide for a high-speed broadband deployment initiative. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2023 

Mr. GRAVES of Missouri (for himself, Mrs. GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N, Mr. GUEST, 

and Mr. MANN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 

Committees on Financial Services, and the Budget, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development 

Act of 1965 to provide for a high-speed broadband deployment initiative. 

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 ‘‘Eliminating Barriers 

5 to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘E-BRIDGE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIA2 TIVE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Public Works and 

4 Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141 et 

5 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 219. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIA7 TIVE. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND PROJECT.—The term 

10 ‘broadband project’ means, for the purpose of pro11 viding, extending, expanding, or improving high12 speed broadband service to further the goals of this 

13 Act— 

14 ‘‘(A) planning, technical assistance, or 

15 training; 

16 ‘‘(B) the acquisition or development of 

17 land; or 

18 ‘‘(C) the acquisition, design and engineer19 ing, construction, rehabilitation, alteration, ex20 pansion, or improvement of facilities, including 

21 related machinery, equipment, contractual 

22 rights, and intangible property. 

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible re25 cipient’ means an eligible recipient. 


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1 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘eligible re2 cipient’ includes— 

3 ‘‘(i) a public-private partnership; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) a consortium formed for the pur5 pose of providing, extending, expanding, or 

6 improving high-speed broadband service 

7 between 1 or more eligible recipients and 1 

8 or more for-profit organizations. 

9 ‘‘(3) HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND.—The term 

10 ‘high-speed broadband’ means the provision of 2-way 

11 data transmission with sufficient downstream and 

12 upstream speeds to end users to permit effective 

13 participation in the economy and to support eco14 nomic growth, as determined by the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(b) BROADBAND PROJECTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On the application of an el17 igible recipient, the Secretary may make grants 

18 under this title for broadband projects, which shall 

19 be subject to the provisions of this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In reviewing applica21 tions submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

22 shall take into consideration geographic diversity of 

23 grants allocated, including consideration of under24 served markets, in addition to data requested in 

25 paragraph (3). 


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1 ‘‘(3) DATA REQUESTED.—In reviewing an ap2 plication submitted under paragraph (1), the Sec3 retary shall request from the Federal Communica4 tions Commission, the Administrator of the National 

5 Telecommunications and Information Administra6 tion, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Appa7 lachian Regional Commission data on— 

8 ‘‘(A) the level and extent of broadband 

9 service that exists in the area proposed to be 

10 served; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the level and extent of broadband 

12 service that will be deployed in the area pro13 posed to be served pursuant to another Federal 

14 program. 

15 ‘‘(4) INTEREST IN REAL OR PERSONAL PROP16 ERTY.—For any broadband project carried out by an 

17 eligible recipient that is a public-private partnership 

18 or consortium, the Secretary shall require that title 

19 to any real or personal property acquired or im20 proved with grant funds, or if the recipient will not 

21 acquire title, another possessory interest acceptable 

22 to the Secretary, be vested in a public partner or eli23 gible nonprofit organization or association for the 

24 useful life of the project, after which title may be 

25 transferred to any member of the public-private 


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1 partnership or consortium in accordance with regu2 lations promulgated by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(5) PROCUREMENT.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of law, no person or entity shall be 

5 disqualified from competing to provide goods or serv6 ices related to a broadband project on the basis that 

7 the person or entity participated in the development 

8 of the broadband project or in the drafting of speci9 fications, requirements, statements of work, or simi10 lar documents related to the goods or services to be 

11 provided. 

12 ‘‘(6) BROADBAND PROJECT PROPERTY.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

14 permit a recipient of a grant for a broadband 

15 project to grant an option to acquire real or 

16 personal property (including contractual rights 

17 and intangible property) related to that project 

18 to a third party on such terms as the Secretary 

19 determines to be appropriate, subject to the 

20 condition that the option may only be exercised 

21 after the Secretary releases the Federal interest 

22 in the property. 

23 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT.—The grant or exercise 

24 of an option described in subparagraph (A) 


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1 shall not constitute a redistribution of grant 

2 funds under section 217. 

3 ‘‘(c) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—In determining the 

4 amount of the non-Federal share of the cost of a 

5 broadband project, the Secretary may provide credit to6 ward the non-Federal share for the present value of allow7 able contributions over the useful life of the broadband 

8 project, subject to the condition that the Secretary may 

9 require such assurances of the value of the rights and of 

10 the commitment of the rights as the Secretary determines 

11 to be appropriate.’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

13 in section 1(b) of the Public Works and Economic Devel14 opment Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3121 note; Public Law 

15 89–136) is amended by inserting after the item relating 

16 to section 218 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 219. High-speed broadband deployment initiative.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

18 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

19 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

20 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

21 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

22 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

23 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, proVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1752.IH H1752

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1 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

2 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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