II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST 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 and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist2 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

3 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

4 (2) CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA.—The 

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

6 given the term by the Office of Management and 

7 Budget in the Notice of Decision entitled ‘‘2010 

8 Standards for Delineating Metropolitan and 

9 Micropolitan Statistical Areas’’, published in the 

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

11 37246), or any successor to that Notice. 

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

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

14 (4) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY.—The term 

15 ‘‘internet exchange facility’’ means physical infra16 structure through which internet service providers 

17 and content delivery networks exchange internet 

18 traffic between their networks. 

19 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMA20 TION ADMINISTRATION GRANTS. 

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

22 fiscal year beginning after the date on which the Assistant 

23 Secretary establishes rules and timelines under subsection 

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

25 to acquire 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 

3 the grant is awarded, there are no existing internet 

4 exchange facilities; or 

5 (2) expand operations at an existing internet 

6 exchange facility in a core based statistical area in 

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

8 only 1 internet exchange facility. 

9 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity may not receive a cov10 ered grant unless the entity certifies to the Assistant Sec11 retary that the entity has sufficient interest from third 

12 party entities that will use the internet exchange facility 

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

14 or operations are expanded, as applicable. 

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

16 total cost of the establishment of, or expansion of oper17 ations at, an internet exchange facility for which a covered 

18 grant is awarded may not exceed 50 percent. 

19 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 

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

21 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the As22 sistant Secretary shall establish rules and timelines 

23 for applications for covered grants. 

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

25 in the covered grant program, the Assistant SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Apr 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1166.IS S1166

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1 retary shall enter into a contract with an inde2 pendent third party under which the third party re3 views an application for a covered grant not later 

4 than 60 days after the date on which the application 

5 is submitted to ensure that only an entity that is eli6 gible for a covered grant receives a covered grant. 

7 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec8 tion shall be construed to authorize the Assistant Sec9 retary to regulate, issue guidance for, or otherwise inter10 fere with the activities at an internet exchange facility. 

11 (f) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No addi12 tional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

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

14 amounts otherwise authorized. 

15 SEC. 4. USE OF E-RATE AND RURAL HEALTH CARE UNI16 VERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT. 

17 Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

18 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

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

21 SUPPORT FOR COSTS RELATING TO INTERNET EX22 CHANGE FACILITY CONNECTION.— 

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

24 provision of law or regulation, including subpart F 

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1 tions (or any successor regulation), a recipient of 

2 support under such subpart F or G may receive sup3 port under that subpart— 

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

5 service provider to obtain connection to an 

6 internet exchange facility; or 

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

8 of presence at an internet exchange facility. 

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

10 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the 

11 Commission to regulate, issue guidance for, or other12 wise interfere with the activities at an internet ex13 change facility. 

14 ‘‘(3) INTERNET EXCHANGE FACILITY DE15 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘internet ex16 change facility’ means physical infrastructure 

17 through which internet service providers and content 

18 delivery networks exchange internet traffic between 

19 their networks.’’. 

Æ 


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