I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6456 
To establish a grant program that provides grants to expand broadband 
service. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 7, 2020 
Mr. WITTMAN (for himself and Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program that provides grants to expand 
broadband service. 
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 ‘‘Serving Rural America 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term ‘‘broad-
band service’’ has the same meaning as Broadband 
internet access service in section 8.1(b) of the rules 
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of the Federal Communications Commission (47 
C.F.R. 8.1(b)). 
(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Communications Commission. 
(3) ELIGIBLE
BROADBAND
PROJECT.—The 
term ‘‘eligible broadband project’’ means a project 
proposed by an eligible partnership to provide, to a 
proposed service area, that is identified as unserved 
pursuant to section 3, subsection (c)(4), a retail 
fixed terrestrial broadband service of a capability de-
termined by the Commission and that meets at least 
the minimum acceptable level for such service as es-
tablished by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant 
to section 601(e) of the Rural Electrification Act of 
1936. 
(4) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble partnership’’ means a partnership— 
(A) that includes— 
(i) at least 1 political subdivision of a 
State or a federally recognized Indian 
Tribe (such as a city, county, wireless au-
thority, or planning district commission); 
and 
(ii) at least 1 internet service provider 
who 
provides 
retail 
fixed 
terrestrial 
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broadband service and is unaffiliated with 
the political subdivision of a State; and 
(B) where the political subdivision or fed-
erally recognized Indian Tribe uses an open and 
transparent process and applies criteria that 
does not discriminate against any entity to se-
lect the internet service provider as a partner or 
impose any requirement on such entity other 
than an agreement to meet the project require-
ments as described in section 3(j). 
SEC. 3. BROADBAND GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Com-
munications Commission shall establish a program that 
provides grants, from amounts made available to carry out 
this Act, to eligible partnerships for eligible broadband 
projects. 
(b) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under subsection (a), an eligible partnership shall submit 
an application at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Commission may require, 
including— 
(1) a description of the eligible broadband 
project (including the proposed broadband speed(s) 
and proposed cost) that such eligible partnership in-
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tends to undertake if awarded a grant under this 
Act (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘proposed 
broadband project’’); and 
(2) a description of the proposed service area to 
be served by the proposed broadband project (in this 
Act referred to as the ‘‘proposed service area’’). 
(c) SELECTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall award 
grants to eligible partnerships for eligible broadband 
projects on a competitively and technologically neu-
tral basis. 
(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under sub-
section (a), the Commission shall give priority to ap-
plications for proposed broadband projects designed 
to provide the maximum level of broadband service 
in terms of peak speed, consistent speed, latency, re-
liability, and upgradability to the greatest proportion 
of households in a proposed service area. 
(3) NONDISCRIMINATION.—In awarding grants 
under subsection (a), the Commission— 
(A) shall not discriminate against eligible 
partnerships that have not previously received a 
grant under this section; and 
(B) shall not require grant recipients to be 
designated as eligible telecommunications car-
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riers pursuant to section 214 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934. 
(4) IDENTIFICATION
OF
UNSERVED
COMMU-
NITIES.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—For the purpose of 
awarding grants under subsection (a), the Com-
mission shall find a proposed service area to be 
unserved and eligible to receive a grant if— 
(i) fixed terrestrial broadband service 
capacity, including any planned capacity or 
any capacity under construction in accord-
ance with applicable deadlines imposed by 
a State or political subdivision, is not 
available within the proposed service area 
at 25 megabits per second downstream 
transmission capacity and 3 megabits per 
second upstream transmission capacity or 
greater; and 
(ii) any Federal, State, or local gov-
ernment agency is not already providing fi-
nancial 
support 
in 
that 
area 
to 
a 
broadband service provider (including the 
internet service provider applicant or any 
affiliate thereof) to deploy and offer 
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broadband service capacity to locations in 
such area. 
(B) FINDING.—In making a finding under 
subparagraph (A), the Commission shall— 
(i) use available data on broadband 
coverage (including the universal service 
funding) authorizations overseen by the 
Commission and confer with and obtain 
data from the Rural Utilities Service with 
respect to existing service capacity in the 
proposed service area; 
(ii) review any other mapping data 
that is relevant to service capacity valida-
tion, as determined by the Commission; 
(iii) provide reasonable opportunities, 
as described in subsection (d)(2) for input 
and presentation of data with respect to 
existing or already-planned service avail-
ability by providers and other stakeholders 
including— 
(I) analysis of third-party data-
sets; 
(II) data collected through crowd 
sourcing of public input regarding 
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mapping accuracy of proposed service 
area; and 
(III) site specific testing where 
mapping data is contested as incor-
rect; and 
(iv) post on the Commission’s website 
and publish in the Federal Register the 
proposed service area and provide the pub-
lic a period of at least 45 days after Fed-
eral Register publication to submit com-
ments, including with information that the 
Commission shall keep confidential upon 
request of the commenting party, to the 
Commission on the proposed service area. 
(d) INELIGIBLE USES OF GRANT FUNDS.—The Com-
mission shall not award a grant, or other assistance for 
the deployment of broadband-capable infrastructure by a 
service provider that would be used to provide retail fixed 
terrestrial broadband service and that would overbuild or 
otherwise duplicate broadband-capable infrastructure that 
another service provider is using to provide retail fixed ter-
restrial broadband service in that same area as identified 
consistent with subsection (c)(4), except that any other 
proposed area covered by the same application as the ineli-
gible area and that is identified as unserved consistent 
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with subsection (c)(4) shall remain eligible for a grant or 
other such assistance. 
(e) PUBLIC NOTICE.—The Commission shall estab-
lish a process through which, before the Commission 
awards a grant to such eligible partnership, members of 
the public and or any service provider— 
(1) are notified that the Commission is consid-
ering awarding a grant to an eligible partnership for 
a proposed broadband project; 
(2) are notified they may participate in a chal-
lenge process to address claims about the eligibility 
of the area for a grant based upon existing or al-
ready-planned provision of retail fixed terrestrial 
broadband services; and 
(3) have an opportunity to inform the Commis-
sion that such proposed broadband project would du-
plicate existing broadband service in the proposed 
project area. 
(f) BROADBAND BUILD-OUT DATA
AND REPORT-
ING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab-
lish broadband build-out, reporting, and account-
ability requirements. 
(2) BUILD-OUT DATA.—Any eligible partnership 
that receives a grant under this Act shall provide to 
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the Commission complete, reliable, and precise infor-
mation in a format specified by the Commission that 
indicates the location of new broadband service the 
eligible partnership is providing through the eligible 
broadband project. 
(3) DATE.—The information described in sub-
section (f)(2) shall be provided to the Commission 
not later than 90 days after the earlier of— 
(A) the date of completion of any eligible 
broadband project milestones established by the 
Commission; or 
(B) the date of completion of the eligible 
broadband project. 
(g) FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION.—The amount of any 
grant provided to an eligible partnership under this Act 
may not exceed 75 percent of the total proposed cost of 
the eligible broadband project. 
(h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may pro-
vide technical assistance and training to any eligible 
partnership applying for a grant under this Act. 
(2) FUNDING.—Not more than 5 percent of 
amounts appropriated to carry out this Act for a fis-
cal year may be used for technical assistance and 
training. 
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(3) COORDINATION.—When providing technical 
assistance and training to an eligible partnership, 
the Commission shall coordinate with any State offi-
cial responsible for broadband expansion in the State 
containing the proposed service area. 
(i) RELATION
TO OTHER FEDERAL BROADBAND 
PROGRAMS.— 
(1) UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND.—The Commis-
sion shall coordinate to ensure that any grants made 
under this Act complement and do not conflict with 
the high-cost universal service support provided 
under section 254 of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 254). 
(2) RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE.—The Commis-
sion shall coordinate with the Secretary of Agri-
culture to ensure that any grants made under this 
Act complement and do not conflict with loans and 
grants provided by the Department of Agriculture 
under title VI of the Rural Electrification Act of 
1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb et seq.), including the Broad-
band Grants, Loans, and Loan Guarantees program 
and the Community Connect Programs, and the Re-
Connect Program. 
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(j) PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—Any project funded 
through the program shall meet the following require-
ments: 
(1) The project shall offer broadband service 
with a download speed of at least 100 megabits per 
second, an upload speed of at least 20 megabits per 
second, and a latency sufficient to real time applica-
tions. 
(2) For any project that involves underground 
fiber-optic cable along a roadway, the project shall 
include consistent conduit access points, as defined 
by the Commission. 
(3) The project shall incorporate best manage-
ment practices, as defined by the Commission, for 
buildout and maintenance. 
(4) The network shall be capable of, and the 
provider shall offer to any broadband customer in 
the proposed service area, fixed terrestrial voice serv-
ice that includes the ability to dial 911 without a 
mandate for the user to subscribe to broadband as 
well. 
(k) EXCEPTIONS.—The Commission shall grant an 
exception to project broadband speed requirements in sec-
tion 3(j) as deemed necessary to allow participation by eli-
gible partnerships in Alaska. 
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(l) DATES AND RULEMAKING.— 
(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 120 days 
after the enactment of the ‘‘Serving Rural America 
Act’’, the Commission shall announce a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register, that 
establishes— 
(A) requirements of this section, in addi-
tion to requirements of subsections (a), (b), (c), 
(d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j); 
(B) notice requirements for which entities 
have applied to bid for funding; 
(C) the results of the grant program, in-
cluding identifying funding recipients, the serv-
ice area the project will service, the type of 
service the recipient will provide, and the 
amount of funding the recipient will receive; 
(D) broadband buildout milestones; and 
(E) annual certification from award recipi-
ents that identifies speed of service provided in 
each service area of a project to ensure compli-
ance with the broadband buildout milestones es-
tablished under subparagraph (D). 
(2) 
FUNDING
OPPORTUNITY
ANNOUNCE-
MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the enactment 
of this Act, the Commission shall announce a Fund-
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ing Opportunity Announcement in the Federal Reg-
ister. 
SEC. 4. INFORMATION SHARING. 
(a) INFORMATION SHARING WITH FEDERAL COMMU-
NICATIONS COMMISSION AND RURAL UTILITIES SERV-
ICE.—The Commission shall share with the Rural Utilities 
Service information received pursuant to subsections 
(f)(2) and (k)(1)(E). 
(b) NATIONAL BROADBAND MAP.—The Commission 
shall incorporate build-out data received pursuant to sub-
sections (f)(2) and (k)(1)(E) into the National Broadband 
Map. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act $100,000,000 for each of the first 5 fiscal years 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 6. FCC REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
FCC shall report to Congress annually on the 
progress of the program based on broadband build-out 
data provided by grant participants and data as reflected 
by the National Broadband Map. 
Æ 
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