enhanced economic development and public safety 
for communities across the Nation, improved health 
care and educational opportunities, and a better 
quality of life for all Americans. 
(2) Continued progress in the deployment and 
adoption of broadband and other advanced informa-
tion services is vital to ensuring that our Nation re-
mains competitive and continues to create business 
and job growth. 
(3) The Federal Government should also recog-
nize and encourage complementary state efforts to 
improve the quality and usefulness of broadband 
data and should encourage and support the partner-
ship of the public and private sectors in the contin-
ued growth of broadband service and information 
technology for the residents and businesses of the 
Nation. 
SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE 
BROADBAND. 
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 
(1) to ensure that all citizens and businesses in 
a State have access to affordable and reliable 
broadband service; 
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(2) to achieve improved technology literacy, in-
creased computer ownership, and home broadband 
use among such citizens and businesses; 
(3) to establish and empower local grassroots 
technology teams in each State to plan for improved 
technology use across multiple community sectors; 
and 
(4) to establish and sustain an environment 
ripe for broadband service and information tech-
nology investment. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE BROADBAND DATA 
AND DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 
grants, taking into account the results of the peer 
review process under subsection (d), to eligible enti-
ties for the development and implementation of 
statewide initiatives to identify and track the avail-
ability and adoption of broadband service within 
each State. 
(2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Any grant under this 
section shall be awarded on a competitive basis. 
(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under subsection (b), an eligible entity shall— 
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(1) submit an application to the Secretary, at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such in-
formation as the Secretary may require; and 
(2) agree to contribute matching non-Federal 
funds in an amount equal to not less than 20 per-
cent of the total amount of the grant. 
(d) PEER REVIEW.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by regu-
lation require appropriate technical and scientific 
peer review of applications made for grants under 
this section. 
(2) REVIEW PROCEDURES.—The regulations re-
quired under paragraph (1) shall require that any 
technical and scientific peer review group— 
(A) be provided a written description of 
the grant to be reviewed; 
(B) provide the results of any review by 
such group to the Secretary; and 
(C) certify that such group will enter into 
voluntary nondisclosure agreements as nec-
essary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of 
confidential and propriety information provided 
by broadband service providers in connection 
with projects funded by any such grant. 
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(e) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded to an eligible 
entity under subsection (b) shall be used— 
(1) to provide a baseline assessment of 
broadband service deployment in each State; 
(2) to identify and track— 
(A) areas in each State that have low lev-
els of broadband service deployment; 
(B) the rate at which residential and busi-
ness customers adopt broadband service and 
other related information technology services; 
and 
(C) possible suppliers of such services; 
(3) to identify barriers to the adoption by indi-
viduals and businesses of broadband service and re-
lated information technology services, including 
whether or not— 
(A) the demand for such services is absent; 
and 
(B) the supply for such services is capable 
of meeting the demand for such services; 
(4) to create and facilitate in each county or 
designated region in a State a local technology plan-
ning team— 
(A) with members representing a cross sec-
tion of the community, including representatives 
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of business, telecommunications labor organiza-
tions, K–12 education, health care, libraries, 
higher education, community-based organiza-
tions, local government, tourism, parks and 
recreation, and agriculture; and 
(B) which shall— 
(i) measure technology use across rel-
evant community sectors; 
(ii) set goals for improved technology 
use within each sector; and 
(iii) develop a tactical business plan 
for achieving the local technology planning 
team’s goals, with specific recommenda-
tions for online application development 
and demand creation; 
(5) to work collaboratively with broadband serv-
ice providers and information technology companies 
to encourage deployment and use, especially in 
unserved and underserved areas, through the use of 
local demand aggregation, mapping analysis, and the 
creation of market intelligence to improve the busi-
ness case for providers to deploy; 
(6) to establish programs to improve computer 
ownership and Internet access for unserved and un-
derserved populations; 
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