II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3408 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide grants for access 

to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide 

grants for access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, 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 ‘‘Broadband Connec5 tions for Rural Opportunities Program Act of 2016’’ or 

6 the ‘‘B–CROP Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

2 SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 

3 Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

4 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘loans and’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, and’’; 

7 (2) in subsection (c)— 

8 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

9 ‘‘LOANS AND’’ and inserting ‘‘GRANTS, LOANS, 

10 AND’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘make 

12 grants and’’ after ‘‘Secretary shall’’; and 

13 (C) by striking paragraph (2) and insert14 ing the following: 

15 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In making grants, 

17 loans, or loan guarantees under paragraph (1), 

18 the Secretary shall— 

19 ‘‘(i) establish 1 ongoing evaluation pe20 riod for each fiscal year to compare grant, 

21 loan, and loan guarantee applications and 

22 to prioritize grants, loans, and loan guar23 antees to all or part of rural communities 

24 that do not have residential broadband 

25 service that meets the minimum acceptable 


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1 level of broadband service established 

2 under subsection (e); 

3 ‘‘(ii) give the highest priority to appli4 cants that offer to provide broadband serv5 ice to the greatest proportion of unserved 

6 rural households or rural households that 

7 do not have residential broadband service 

8 that meets the minimum acceptable level of 

9 broadband service established under sub10 section (e), as— 

11 ‘‘(I) certified by the affected 

12 community, city, county, or designee; 

13 or 

14 ‘‘(II) demonstrated on— 

15 ‘‘(aa) the broadband map of 

16 the affected State if the map con17 tains address-level data; or 

18 ‘‘(bb) the National Broad19 band Map if address-level data is 

20 unavailable; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) provide equal consideration to 

22 all qualified applicants, including those 

23 that have not previously received grants, 

24 loans, or loan guarantees under paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 ‘‘(B) OTHER.—After giving priority to the 

2 applicants described in subparagraph (A), the 

3 Secretary shall then give priority to projects 

4 that serve rural communities— 

5 ‘‘(i) with a population of less than 

6 10,000 permanent residents; 

7 ‘‘(ii) experiencing out-migration; 

8 ‘‘(iii) with a high percentage of low-in9 come residents; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) that are isolated from other sig11 nificant population centers. 

12 ‘‘(3) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a 

14 grant under this section, the project that is the 

15 subject of the grant shall be carried out in a 

16 rural area. 

17 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM.—Except as provided in 

18 subparagraph (D), the amount of any grant 

19 made under this section shall not exceed 50 

20 percent of the development costs of the project 

21 for which the grant is provided. 

22 ‘‘(C) GRANT RATE.—The Secretary shall 

23 establish the grant rate for each project in ac24 cordance with regulations issued by the Sec25 retary that shall provide for a graduated scale 


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1 of grant rates that establish higher rates for 

2 projects in communities that have— 

3 ‘‘(i) remote locations; 

4 ‘‘(ii) low community populations; 

5 ‘‘(iii) low income levels; 

6 ‘‘(iv) developed the applications of the 

7 communities with the participation of, and 

8 will receive a portion of the funding for the 

9 project from, combinations of stakeholders, 

10 including— 

11 ‘‘(I) State, local, and tribal gov12 ernments; 

13 ‘‘(II) nonprofit institutions; 

14 ‘‘(III) community anchor institu15 tions, such as— 

16 ‘‘(aa) public libraries; 

17 ‘‘(bb) elementary schools 

18 and secondary schools (as defined 

19 in section 8101 of the Elemen20 tary and Secondary Education 

21 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)); 

22 ‘‘(cc) institutions of higher 

23 education; and 

24 ‘‘(dd) health care facilities; 

25 ‘‘(IV) private entities; and 


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1 ‘‘(V) philanthropic organizations; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(v) targeted funding to provide the 

4 minimum acceptable level of broadband 

5 service established under subsection (e) in 

6 all or part of an unserved community that 

7 is below that minimum acceptable level of 

8 broadband service. 

9 ‘‘(D) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO AD10 JUST.—The Secretary may make grants of up 

11 to 75 percent of the development costs of the 

12 project for which the grant is provided to an el13 igible entity if the Secretary determines that 

14 the project serves a remote or low income area 

15 that does not have access to broadband service 

16 from any provider of broadband service (includ17 ing the applicant).’’; 

18 (3) in subsection (d)— 

19 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

20 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

21 by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, 

22 loan, or’’; 

23 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘a loan 

24 application’’ and inserting ‘‘an applica25 tion’’; and 


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1 (iii) in clause (iii)— 

2 (I) by striking ‘‘the loan applica3 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘the application’’; 

4 and 

5 (II) by striking ‘‘proceeds from 

6 the loan made or guaranteed under 

7 this section are’’ and inserting ‘‘as8 sistance under this section is’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

12 (i)— 

13 (aa) by striking ‘‘the pro14 ceeds of a loan made or guaran15 teed’’ and inserting ‘‘assistance’’; 

16 and 

17 (bb) by striking ‘‘for the 

18 loan or loan guarantee’’ and in19 serting ‘‘of the eligible entity’’; 

20 and 

21 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘2’’; and 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

24 clause (ii) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTIONS.—Clause (i) shall 

2 not apply if the applicant is eligible for 

3 funding under another title of this Act.’’; 

4 (C) in paragraph (3), in subparagraph (A), 

5 by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, 

6 loan, or’’; 

7 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘loan 

8 or’’ and inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

9 (E) in paragraph (5)(A), in the matter 

10 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

12 (F) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘grant, loan, or’’; 

14 (G) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘a loan 

15 application’’ and inserting ‘‘an application’’; 

16 and 

17 (H) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(11) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAIN19 ING.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

21 provide to eligible entities described in para22 graph (1) technical assistance and training— 

23 ‘‘(i) to prepare reports and surveys 

24 necessary to request grants, loans, and 


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1 loan guarantees under this section for 

2 broadband deployment; 

3 ‘‘(ii) to improve management, includ4 ing financial management, relating to the 

5 proposed broadband deployment; 

6 ‘‘(iii) to prepare applications for 

7 grants, loans, and loan guarantees under 

8 this section; or 

9 ‘‘(iv) to assist with other areas of 

10 need identified by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(B) FUNDING.—Not less than 3 percent 

12 and not more than 5 percent of amounts appro13 priated to carry out this section for a fiscal year 

14 shall be used for technical assistance and train15 ing under this paragraph.’’; 

16 (4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘make a loan 

17 or loan guarantee’’ and inserting ‘‘provide assist18 ance’’; 

19 (5) in subsection (j)— 

20 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

21 by striking ‘‘loan and loan guarantee’’; 

22 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘grants 

23 and’’ after ‘‘number of’’; 

24 (C) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘loan’’; and 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

4 ‘‘loans and’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, loans, 

5 and’’; and 

6 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘loan’’; 

7 (6) by redesignating subsections (k) and (l) as 

8 subsections (l) and (m), respectively; 

9 (7) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(k) BROADBAND BUILDOUT DATA.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving 

13 a grant, loan, or loan guarantee under this section, 

14 a recipient of assistance shall provide to the Sec15 retary address-level broadband buildout data that in16 dicates the location of new broadband service that is 

17 being provided or upgraded within the service terri18 tory supported by the grant, loan, or loan guar19 antee— 

20 ‘‘(A) for purposes of inclusion in the semi21 annual updates to the National Broadband Map 

22 that is managed by the Federal Communica23 tions Commission (referred to in this subsection 

24 as the ‘Commission’); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the ear2 lier of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the date of completion of any 

4 project milestone established by the Sec5 retary; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) the date of completion of the 

7 project. 

8 ‘‘(2) ADDRESS-LEVEL DATA.—Effective begin9 ning on the date the Commission receives data de10 scribed in paragraph (1), the Commission shall use 

11 only address-level broadband buildout data for the 

12 National Broadband Map. 

13 ‘‘(3) CORRECTIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

15 submit to the Commission any correction to the 

16 National Broadband Map that is based on the 

17 actual level of broadband coverage within the 

18 rural area, including any requests for a correc19 tion from an elected or economic development 

20 official. 

21 ‘‘(B) INCORPORATION.—Not later than 30 

22 days after the date on which the Commission 

23 receives a correction submitted under subpara24 graph (A), the Commission shall incorporate 


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1 the correction into the National Broadband 

2 Map. 

3 ‘‘(C) USE.—If the Secretary has submitted 

4 a correction to the Commission under subpara5 graph (A), but the National Broadband Map 

6 has not been updated to reflect the correction 

7 by the date on which the Secretary is making 

8 a grant or loan award decision under this sec9 tion, the Secretary may use the correction sub10 mitted under that subparagraph for purposes of 

11 make the grant or loan award decision.’’; 

12 (8) in subsection (l) (as redesignated by para13 graph (6))— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking 

15 ‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$50,000,000’’; 

16 and 

17 (B) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

18 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

19 the end; 

20 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe21 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(iii) set aside at least 1 percent to be 

25 used for— 


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1 ‘‘(I) conducting oversight under 

2 this section; and 

3 ‘‘(II) implementing accountability 

4 measures and related activities au5 thorized under this section.’’; and 

6 (9) in subsection (m) (as redesignated by para7 graph (6)), by striking ‘‘loan or’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘grant, loan, or’’. 

Æ 


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