I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6819 
To fund grants for the immediate deployment of temporary wireless 
broadband service on Tribal lands and Hawaiian Home Lands, to provide 
emergency special temporary authority to use electromagnetic spectrum 
for the provision of wireless broadband service on Tribal lands and 
Hawaiian Home Lands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 12, 2020 
Ms. HAALAND (for herself, Mr. COLE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 
KILMER, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CASE, 
Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. SOTO, and Ms. 
GABBARD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To fund grants for the immediate deployment of temporary 
wireless broadband service on Tribal lands and Hawaiian 
Home Lands, to provide emergency special temporary 
authority to use electromagnetic spectrum for the provi-
sion of wireless broadband service on Tribal lands and 
Hawaiian Home Lands, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Designa-
tion of Immediate Special Authority of Spectrum for 
Tribes’ Emergency Response in Indian Country Act’’ or 
the ‘‘COVID–19 DISASTER in Indian Country Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The immediate grant of emergency special 
temporary authority of available spectrum that will 
efficiently support temporary wireless broadband 
networks and allow Indian Tribes to provide Tribal 
members with wireless broadband service over Tribal 
lands or Hawaiian Home Lands during the COVID– 
19 crisis due to the increased demand for tele-
communications and disproportionate impacts of the 
COVID–19 pandemic in Indian Country is essential. 
(2) Reservations are the most digitally discon-
nected areas in the United States that lack basic ac-
cess to broadband and wireless services at rates 
comparable to, and in some cases lower than, third- 
world countries. 
(3) In 2018, the Government Accountability Of-
fice and the Federal Communications Commission 
reported that only 65 percent of American Indian 
and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living on Tribal lands 
had access to fixed broadband services, and only 68 
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percent of AI/AN households on rural Tribal lands 
had telephone services. This is a stark comparison to 
only 8 percent of the national average that lacks ac-
cess to fixed broadband services. 
(4) Indian Tribes have previously encountered 
substantial barriers to accessing broadband and 
other communications services on Tribal lands to de-
ploy telecommunication services for the safety and 
well-being of Tribal members and to decrease the 
alarming rates of unnecessary loss of lives that AI/ 
ANs 
disproportionately 
experience, 
especially 
through the lack of access to health care services 
and emergency resources, as demonstrated during 
the COVID–19 pandemic that continues to dis-
proportionately impact Indian Country. 
(5) Indian Tribes’ lack of access to broadband 
services on Tribal lands and Hawaiian Home Lands 
during the COVID–19 pandemic further highlights 
the digital divide in Indian Country. 
(6) The Government Accountability Office 
found that health information technology systems at 
the Indian Health Service rank as the Federal Gov-
ernment’s third-highest need for agency system mod-
ernization, since 50 percent of Indian Health Service 
facilities depend on outdated circuit connections 
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based on one or two TI circuit lines (3 Mbps), cre-
ating slower response times than any other health 
facility system in the United States. 
(7) A 2018 Tribal health reform comment filed 
with the Federal Communications Commission has 
further stated that approximately 1.5 million people 
living on Tribal lands lack access to broadband and, 
of the 75 percent of rural Indian Health Service fa-
cilities, many still lack reliable broadband networks 
for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) 
to access telehealth or clinical health care services, 
which is a critical need in the most geographically 
isolated areas of the country with some of the high-
est poverty rates, and lack of access to reliable 
transportation. 
(8) The Bureau of Indian Education has stated 
that recent estimates from 142 out of 174 schools 
have indicated that approximately 15 to 95 percent 
of students do not have access to internet services 
at home depending on Bureau school location and 
limitations on data caps during the COVID–19 cri-
sis. 
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SEC. 3. DEPLOYMENT OF WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICE 
ON TRIBAL LANDS AND HAWAIIAN HOME 
LANDS. 
(a) FUNDING OF GRANTS FOR IMMEDIATE DEPLOY-
MENT OF WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICE ON TRIBAL 
LANDS AND HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.—In addition to any 
other amounts made available, out of any money in the 
Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, 
there are appropriated— 
(1) $297,500,000 for grants under the commu-
nity 
facilities 
grant 
program 
under 
section 
306(a)(19) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De-
velopment Act to Indian Tribes, qualifying Tribal 
entities, and the Director of the Department of Ha-
waiian Home Lands, for the immediate deployment 
of wireless broadband service on Tribal lands and 
Hawaiian Home Lands, respectively, through the 
use of emergency special temporary authority grant-
ed under subsection (b) of this section, including 
backhaul costs, repairs to damaged infrastructure, 
the cost of the repairs to which would be less expen-
sive than the cost of new infrastructure and would 
support the emergency special temporary use, and 
the Federal share applicable to grants from such 
amount shall be 100 percent, which amount shall re-
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main available for one year from the enactment of 
this Act; and 
(2) $3,000,000 for grants under the community 
facilities technical assistance and training grant pro-
gram under section 306(a)(26) of such Act, without 
regard to sections 306(a)(26)(B) and 306(a)(26)(C) 
of such Act, to assist Indian Tribes, qualifying Trib-
al entities, and the Director of the Department of 
Hawaiian Home Lands in preparing applications for 
the grants referred to in paragraph (1) of this sub-
section, which amount shall remain available for one 
year from the enactment of this Act. Grants referred 
to under paragraph (2) shall be available to Indian 
Tribes, qualifying Tribal entities and shall also be 
available to inter-Tribal government organizations, 
universities, and colleges with Tribal serving institu-
tions for the purposes stated herein. 
(b) EMERGENCY SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY 
TO USE AVAILABLE AND EFFICIENT SPECTRUM ON TRIB-
AL LANDS AND HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.— 
(1) GRANT OF AUTHORITY.—Not later than 10 
days after receiving a request from an Indian Tribe, 
a qualifying Tribal entity, or the Director of the De-
partment of Hawaiian Home Lands for emergency 
special temporary authority to use electromagnetic 
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spectrum described in paragraph (3) for the provi-
sion of wireless broadband service over the Tribal 
lands over which the Indian Tribe or qualifying 
Tribal entity has jurisdiction or (in the case of a re-
quest from the Director of the Department of Ha-
waiian Home Lands) over the Hawaiian Home 
Lands, allowing unlicensed radio transmitters to op-
erate for such provision on such spectrum at loca-
tions on such Tribal lands or Hawaiian Home Lands 
where such spectrum is not being used, the Commis-
sion shall grant such request on a secondary non-in-
terference basis. 
(2) DURATION.—A grant of emergency special 
temporary authority under paragraph (1) shall be 
for a period of operation to begin not later than 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act 
and to remain in operation for not longer than 6 
months, absent extensions granted by the Commis-
sion pursuant to the procedures of the Commission 
relating to special temporary authority. 
(3) 
ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
DE-
SCRIBED.—The electromagnetic spectrum described 
in this paragraph for utilization on the temporary 
basis is any portion of the electromagnetic spec-
trum— 
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(A) that is— 
(i) between the frequencies of 2496 
megahertz and 2690 megahertz, inclusive; 
(ii) in the white spaces of the tele-
vision broadcast spectrum between the fre-
quencies of 470 megahertz and 790 mega-
hertz, inclusive, excluding those frequencies 
utilized for other purposes under subpart 
H of part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal 
Regulations; 
(iii) between the frequencies of 5925 
megahertz and 7125 megahertz, inclusive; 
or 
(iv) between frequencies of 3550 
megahertz and 3700 megahertz, inclusive; 
and 
(B) with respect to the Tribal lands or Ha-
waiian Home Lands over which authority to use 
such spectrum is requested under paragraph 
(1), is not assigned to any licensee. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Communications Commission. 
(2) HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.—The term ‘‘Ha-
waiian Home Lands’’ means lands held in trust for 
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