I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3646 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish a Lifeline Assistance 
Program for universal broadband adoption, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 
Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish 
a Lifeline Assistance Program for universal broadband 
adoption, 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 ‘‘Broadband Afford-
ability Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 
Section 254(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 254(j)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 
Nothing in this’’ and inserting the following: 
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‘‘(j) LIFELINE ASSISTANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) BROADBAND LIFELINE ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM.— 
‘‘(A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this para-
graph is to promote the adoption of broadband 
service by all people of the United States while 
recognizing that the price of broadband service 
is a barrier to adoption for low income house-
holds. 
‘‘(B) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 
days after the date of enactment of the 
Broadband Affordability Act of 2009, the Com-
mission shall take all actions necessary to es-
tablish a broadband lifeline program that en-
ables qualifying low-income customers residing 
in urban and rural areas to purchase broadband 
service at reduced charges by reimbursing pro-
viders for each such customer served. Such 
broadband lifeline program shall be similar in 
structure to the Lifeline program for basic tele-
phone service under subpart E of part 54 of 
title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. 
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‘‘(C) STATE
MATCHING
FUNDS.—In rec-
ognition of the interstate nature of broadband 
service, the Commission may determine, in con-
sultation with the Federal-State Joint Board, 
whether State matching funds must be provided 
as a condition of eligibility for low-income 
households within such State. 
‘‘(D) AMOUNT
OF
SUPPORT.—The Com-
mission, in calculating the amount of support to 
be provided to each low-income household, shall 
routinely study the prevailing market price for 
broadband service and the prevailing speed of 
broadband service adopted by households. To 
fulfill this requirement, the Commission shall 
rely on information that it routinely collects or 
that is publicly available. 
‘‘(E) TECHNOLOGY NEUTRAL.—The Com-
mission shall ensure that the broadband lifeline 
program is neutral as to the types of technology 
used to provide broadband service to promote 
competition from broadband service providers to 
qualify under such program. A broadband serv-
ice provider need not be an eligible tele-
communications carrier to receive support 
under the broadband lifeline program, but such 
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provider shall obtain authorization from the 
Commission in order to participate in the pro-
gram.’’. 
Æ 
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