IB 

Union Calendar No. 187 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1752 

[Report No. 118–229, Part I] 

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 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MOLINARO, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. VAN

DREW, and Mrs. PELTOLA

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure with an 

amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Committees on Financial Services and the Budget discharged; committed to 

the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 23, 2023] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development 

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


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SEC. 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’’. 

7 SEC. 2. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIATIVE. 

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

9 Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141 et seq.) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 219. HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT INITIA12 TIVE. 

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

14 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND PROJECT.—The term 

15 ‘broadband project’ means, for the purpose of pro16 viding, extending, expanding, or improving high17 speed broadband service to further the goals of this 

18 Act— 

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

20 training; 

21 ‘‘(B) the acquisition or development of land; 

22 or 

23 ‘‘(C) the acquisition, design and engineer24 ing, construction, rehabilitation, alteration, ex25 pansion, or improvement of facilities, including 


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1 related machinery, equipment, contractual 

2 rights, and intangible property. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible re5 cipient’ means an eligible recipient. 

6 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘eligible re7 cipient’ includes— 

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

9 ‘‘(ii) a consortium formed for the pur10 pose of providing, extending, expanding, or 

11 improving high-speed broadband service be12 tween 1 or more eligible recipients and 1 or 

13 more for-profit organizations. 

14 ‘‘(3) HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND.—The term ‘high15 speed broadband’ means the provision of 2-way data 

16 transmission with sufficient downstream and up17 stream speeds to end users to permit effective partici18 pation in the economy and to support economic 

19 growth, as determined by the Secretary. 

20 ‘‘(b) BROADBAND PROJECTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On the application of an eli22 gible recipient, the Secretary may make grants under 

23 this title for broadband projects, which shall be subject 

24 to the provisions of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In reviewing applica2 tions submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

3 shall take into consideration geographic diversity of 

4 grants allocated, including consideration of under5 served markets, in addition to data requested in para6 graph (3). 

7 ‘‘(3) DATA REQUESTED.—In reviewing an appli8 cation submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

9 shall request from the Federal Communications Com10 mission, the Administrator of the National Tele11 communications and Information Administration, the 

12 Secretary of Agriculture, and the Appalachian Re13 gional Commission data on— 

14 ‘‘(A) the level and extent of broadband serv15 ice that exists in the area proposed to be served; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) the level and extent of broadband serv18 ice that will be deployed in the area proposed to 

19 be served pursuant to another Federal program. 

20 ‘‘(4) INTEREST IN REAL OR PERSONAL PROP21 ERTY.—For any broadband project carried out by an 

22 eligible recipient that is a public-private partnership 

23 or consortium, the Secretary shall require that title to 

24 any real or personal property acquired or improved 

25 with grant funds, or if the recipient will not acquire 


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1 title, another possessory interest acceptable to the Sec2 retary, be vested in a public partner or eligible non3 profit organization or association for the useful life of 

4 the project, after which title may be transferred to 

5 any member of the public-private partnership or con6 sortium in accordance with regulations promulgated 

7 by the Secretary. 

8 ‘‘(5) PROCUREMENT.—Notwithstanding any 

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

10 disqualified from competing to provide goods or serv11 ices related to a broadband project on the basis that 

12 the person or entity participated in the development 

13 of the broadband project or in the drafting of speci14 fications, requirements, statements of work, or similar 

15 documents related to the goods or services to be pro16 vided. 

17 ‘‘(6) BROADBAND PROJECT PROPERTY.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may per19 mit a recipient of a grant for a broadband 

20 project to grant an option to acquire real or per21 sonal property (including contractual rights and 

22 intangible property) related to that project to a 

23 third party on such terms as the Secretary deter24 mines to be appropriate, subject to the condition 

25 that the option may only be exercised after the 


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1 Secretary releases the Federal interest in the 

2 property. 

3 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT.—The grant or exercise of 

4 an option described in subparagraph (A) shall 

5 not constitute a redistribution of grant funds 

6 under section 217. 

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

8 amount of the non-Federal share of the cost of a broadband 

9 project, the Secretary may provide credit toward the non10 Federal share for the present value of allowable contribu11 tions over the useful life of the broadband project, subject 

12 to the condition that the Secretary may require such assur13 ances of the value of the rights and of the commitment of 

14 the rights as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 

16 section 1(b) of the Public Works and Economic Development 

17 Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3121 note; Public Law 89–136) is 

18 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 218 

19 the following: 

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

20 SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY. 

21 The amendments made by this Act shall only apply 

22 to amounts appropriated on or after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act. 


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Union Calendar No. 187 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1752 

[Report No. 118–229, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Develbroadband deployment initiative. opment Act of 1965 to provide for a high-speed 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure with an amendment 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Committees on Financial Services and the Budget disprinted House on the State of the Union and ordered to be charged; committed to the Committee of the Whole 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB