I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7022 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions 
to accelerate the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 27, 2020 
Mr. CLYBURN (for himself and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take 
certain actions to accelerate the Rural Digital Oppor-
tunity Fund Phase I auction, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Broadband Ac-
celeration Act.’’ 
SEC. 2. ACCELERATION OF RURAL DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY 
FUND PHASE I AUCTION. 
With respect to the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 
Phase I auction (in this section referred to as the ‘‘auc-
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tion’’) provided for in the Report and Order in the matter 
of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and Connect America 
Fund adopted by the Federal Communications Commis-
sion (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) on 
January 30, 2020 (FCC 20–5), the Commission shall 
modify the framework for the auction adopted in such Re-
port and Order as follows: 
(1) The Commission shall begin accepting long- 
form applications before the auction, not later than 
the earlier of the date that is 30 days after the date 
on which the Commission begins accepting short- 
form applications or July 31, 2020, from such appli-
cants as are willing to commit to the schedule de-
scribed in paragraph (3)(B) for deployment of net-
works capable of providing symmetrical Gigabit per-
formance service. 
(2) If the long-form applications accepted pur-
suant to paragraph (1) indicate that, for any census 
block or census block group identified in the Prelimi-
nary List of Eligible Areas released by the Commis-
sion on March 17, 2020, there is only 1 qualified ap-
plicant willing to commit to provide symmetrical 
Gigabit performance service pursuant to the sched-
ule described in paragraph (3)(B), the Commission 
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shall, not later than the earlier of September 30, 
2020, or 30 days before the start of the auction— 
(A) award to such applicant Rural Digital 
Opportunity Fund Phase I support for such 
census block or census block group, at 100 per-
cent of the reserve price (in this paragraph re-
ferred to as the ‘‘award’’); 
(B) remove such census block or census 
block group from the auction; and 
(C) reduce the budget for the auction by 
75 percent of the amount of the award and re-
duce the budget for the Rural Digital Oppor-
tunity Fund Phase II auction provided for in 
such Report and Order by 25 percent of the 
amount of the award. 
(3) The Commission shall require an applicant 
submitting a long-form application pursuant to para-
graph (1) to— 
(A) not later than 30 days after the date 
on which such applicant submits such long-form 
application, provide a letter of commitment 
from a bank meeting the Commission’s eligi-
bility requirements stating that the bank would 
provide a letter of credit to such applicant if 
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such applicant becomes a winning bidder and is 
awarded support; and 
(B) commit to— 
(i) begin construction not later than 6 
months following funding authorization; 
and 
(ii) begin to make service available not 
later than 1 year following funding author-
ization. 
(4) If an applicant to which an award of sup-
port has been made under paragraph (2)(A) for a 
census block or census block group fails to meet the 
requirements of paragraph (3) with respect to such 
award of support, the Commission shall revoke such 
award of support and include such census block or 
census block group for competitive bidding in the 
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction 
provided for in such Report and Order. 
(5) The Commission shall require an applicant 
to which an award of support has been made under 
paragraph (2)(A) to meet the deployment schedule 
to which the applicant committed under paragraph 
(3)(B). 
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SEC. 3. ENSURING THE FCC CREATES ACCURATE SERVICE 
MAPS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—Title 
VIII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 641 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 807. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Com-
mission to carry out this title— 
‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 
‘‘(2) $9,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 
2021 through 2027.’’. 
(b) DEADLINE FOR CREATION OF MAPS.—Section 
802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
642(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘create’’ and inserting 
‘‘create, not later than October 1, 2020’’. 
Æ 
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