II 

Calendar No. 629 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1166 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

Information to make grants for the establishment or expansion of internet exchange facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 11, 2019 

Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Mr. 

BLUNT) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

DECEMBER 15, 2020 

Reported by Mr. WICKER, with an amendment 

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

A BILL 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to make grants for the establishment or expansion of internet exchange facilities, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Exchange Act 

3 of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist7 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

8 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

9 (2) CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA.—The 

10 term ‘‘core based statistical area’’ has the meaning 

11 given the term by the Office of Management and 

12 Budget in the Notice of Decision entitled ‘‘2010 

13 Standards for Delineating Metropolitan and 

14 Micropolitan Statistical Areas’’, published in the 

15 Federal Register on June 28, 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 

16 37246), or any successor to that Notice. 

17 (3) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 

18 grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 3(a). 

19 (4) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY.—The term 

20 ‘‘internet exchange facility’’ means physical infra21 structure through which internet service providers 

22 and content delivery networks exchange internet 

23 traffic between their networks. 


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1 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMA2 TION ADMINISTRATION GRANTS. 

3 (a) GRANTS.—On and after the first day of the first 

4 fiscal year beginning after the date on which the Assistant 

5 Secretary establishes rules and timelines under subsection 

6 (d), the Assistant Secretary shall award grants to entities 

7 to acquire real property and necessary equipment to— 

8 (1) establish a new internet exchange facility in 

9 a core based statistical area in which, at the time 

10 the grant is awarded, there are no existing internet 

11 exchange facilities; or 

12 (2) expand operations at an existing internet 

13 exchange facility in a core based statistical area in 

14 which, at the time the grant is awarded, there is 

15 only 1 internet exchange facility. 

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity may not receive a cov17 ered grant unless the entity certifies to the Assistant Sec18 retary that the entity has sufficient interest from third 

19 party entities that will use the internet exchange facility 

20 to be funded by the grant once the facility is established 

21 or operations are expanded, as applicable. 

22 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 

23 total cost of the establishment of, or expansion of oper24 ations at, an internet exchange facility for which a covered 

25 grant is awarded may not exceed 50 percent. 

26 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 


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1 (1) RULES AND TIMELINES.—Not later than 1 

2 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the As3 sistant Secretary shall establish rules and timelines 

4 for applications for covered grants. 

5 (2) THIRD PARTY REVIEW.—To prevent fraud 

6 in the covered grant program, the Assistant Sec7 retary shall enter into a contract with an inde8 pendent third party under which the third party re9 views an application for a covered grant not later 

10 than 60 days after the date on which the application 

11 is submitted to ensure that only an entity that is eli12 gible for a covered grant receives a covered grant. 

13 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion shall be construed to authorize the Assistant Sec15 retary to regulate, issue guidance for, or otherwise inter16 fere with the activities at an internet exchange facility. 

17 (f) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No addi18 tional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

19 out this section. This section shall be carried out using 

20 amounts otherwise authorized. 

21 SEC. 4. USE OF E-RATE AND RURAL HEALTH CARE UNI22 VERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT. 

23 Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

24 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(m) USE OF E-RATE AND RURAL HEALTH CARE

2 SUPPORT FOR COSTS RELATING TO INTERNET EX3 CHANGE FACILITY CONNECTION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

5 provision of law or regulation, including subpart F 

6 or G of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula7 tions (or any successor regulation), a recipient of 

8 support under such subpart F or G may receive sup9 port under that subpart— 

10 ‘‘(A) to contract with a broadband internet 

11 service provider to obtain connection to an 

12 internet exchange facility; or 

13 ‘‘(B) for the costs of maintaining a point 

14 of presence at an internet exchange facility. 

15 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

16 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the 

17 Commission to regulate, issue guidance for, or other18 wise interfere with the activities at an internet ex19 change facility. 

20 ‘‘(3) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY DE21 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘internet ex22 change facility’ means physical infrastructure 

23 through which internet service providers and content 

24 delivery networks exchange internet traffic between 

25 their networks.’’. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Exchange and 

3 Submarine Cable Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist7 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of Com8 merce for Communications and Information. 

9 (2) CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA.—The term 

10 ‘‘core based statistical area’’ has the meaning given 

11 the term by the Office of Management and Budget in 

12 the Notice of Decision entitled ‘‘2010 Standards for 

13 Delineating Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statis14 tical Areas’’, published in the Federal Register on 

15 June 28, 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 37246), or any successor 

16 to that Notice. 

17 (3) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered grant’’ 

18 means a grant awarded under section 3(a). 

19 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’— 

20 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec21 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 

22 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304); and 

23 (B) includes a Native Hawaiian organiza24 tion, as that term is defined in section 6207 of 

25 the Native Hawaiian Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

26 7517). 


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1 (5) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY.—The term 

2 ‘‘internet exchange facility’’ means physical infra3 structure through which internet service providers 

4 and content delivery networks exchange internet traf5 fic between their networks. 

6 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning 

7 given the term in section 3 of the Communications 

8 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

9 (7) SUBMARINE CABLE LANDING STATION.—The 

10 term ‘‘submarine cable landing station’’ means a 

11 cable landing station, as that term is used in section 

12 1.767(a)(5) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 

13 (or any successor regulation), that can be utilized to 

14 land a submarine cable by an entity that has ob15 tained a license under the first section of the Act enti16 tled ‘‘An Act relating to the landing and operation of 

17 submarine cables in the United States’’, approved 

18 May 27, 1921 (47 U.S.C. 34) (commonly known as 

19 the ‘‘Cable Landing Licensing Act’’). 

20 SEC. 3. INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY GRANTS. 

21 (a) GRANTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date on 

22 which amounts are made available under section 6, the As23 sistant Secretary shall award grants to entities to acquire 

24 real property and necessary equipment to— 


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1 (1) establish a new internet exchange facility in 

2 a core based statistical area in which, at the time the 

3 grant is awarded, there are no existing internet ex4 change facilities; or 

5 (2) expand operations at an existing internet ex6 change facility in a core based statistical area in 

7 which, at the time the grant is awarded, there is only 

8 1 internet exchange facility. 

9 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a covered 

10 grant, an entity shall— 

11 (1) have sufficient interest from third party enti12 ties that will use the internet exchange facility to be 

13 funded by the grant once the facility is established or 

14 operations are expanded, as applicable; 

15 (2) have sovereign control over the land or build16 ing in which the internet exchange facility is to be 

17 housed; 

18 (3) provide evidence of direct conduit, duct, and 

19 manhole access to public rights-of-way; 

20 (4) have a plan to establish security protocols for 

21 the internet exchange facility to prevent physical or 

22 electronic intrusion from unauthorized users; and 

23 (5) provide other information required by the As24 sistant Secretary to protect against waste, fraud, or 

25 abuse. 


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1 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the total 

2 cost of the establishment of, or expansion of operations at, 

3 an internet exchange facility for which a covered grant is 

4 awarded may not exceed 50 percent. 

5 (d) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a covered grant 

6 may not exceed $3,000,000. 

7 (e) APPLICATIONS.— 

8 (1) RULES AND TIMELINES.—Not later than 1 

9 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the As10 sistant Secretary shall establish rules and timelines 

11 for applications for— 

12 (A) covered grants; and 

13 (B) grants under section 4. 

14 (2) THIRD PARTY REVIEW.—To prevent fraud in 

15 the covered grant program, the Assistant Secretary 

16 shall enter into a contract with an independent third 

17 party under which the third party reviews an appli18 cation for a covered grant not later than 60 days 

19 after the date on which the application is submitted 

20 to ensure that only an entity that is eligible for a cov21 ered grant receives a covered grant. 

22 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section 

23 shall be construed to authorize the Assistant Secretary to 

24 regulate, issue guidance for, or otherwise interfere with the 

25 activities at an internet exchange facility. 


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1 SEC. 4. SUBMARINE CABLE LANDING STATION GRANTS. 

2 Not later than 1 year after the date on which amounts 

3 are made available under section 6, and in accordance with 

4 the rules and timelines established under section 3(e)(1), the 

5 Assistant Secretary shall award grants to States and In6 dian Tribes to build infrastructure and acquire necessary 

7 equipment to establish or expand an open-access, carrier8 neutral submarine cable landing station that serves a mili9 tary facility. 

10 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

11 Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of 

12 this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years, the Assistant 

13 Secretary shall submit a report on outcomes of grants 

14 awarded under this Act to— 

15 (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

16 Transportation of the Senate; and 

17 (2) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

18 the House of Representatives. 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated $35,000,000 to carry out sections 3 and 4. 

22 (b) LIMITATION.—The Assistant Secretary may not 

23 use more than 10 percent of the amounts made available 

24 under subsection (a) to administer and report on the out25 comes of grants awarded under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 7. RETURN OF CERTAIN GRANT AMOUNTS. 

2 The Assistant Secretary may require a recipient of a 

3 grant awarded under section 3 or 4 to return all or a por4 tion of the grant amount if there is evidence of waste, fraud, 

5 or abuse of grant funds by the recipient. 


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Calendar No. 629 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1166 

A BILL 

To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

change facilities, and for other purposes. for the establishment or expansion of internet exCommunications and Information to make grants 

DECEMBER 15, 2020 

Reported with an amendment 


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