I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2163 
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 
JUNE 14, 2011 
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 2011’’. 
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 one of the barriers to adoption for low in-
come households. 
‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 
270 days after the date of enactment of 
the Broadband Affordability Act of 2011, 
the Commission shall take all actions nec-
essary to establish a broadband lifeline 
program that enables qualifying low-in-
come customers residing in urban and 
rural areas to purchase broadband service 
at reduced charges by reimbursing pro-
viders for each such customer served. 
‘‘(ii) MODEL.—Such broadband life-
line program shall be similar in structure 
to the Lifeline program for basic telephone 
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service under subpart E of part 54 of title 
47, Code of Federal Regulations. 
‘‘(iii) NONDUPLICATION.—In estab-
lishing the program under clause (i), the 
Commission shall adopt regulations to pre-
vent duplicative broadband lifeline sub-
sidies being awarded for an individual eli-
gible household. 
‘‘(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.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, 
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 pre-
vailing speed of broadband service adopted 
by households. 
‘‘(ii) INFORMATION.—To fulfill the re-
quirement under clause (i), the Commis-
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sion shall rely on information that it rou-
tinely collects or that is publicly available. 
‘‘(E) TECHNOLOGY NEUTRAL.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 
shall ensure that the broadband lifeline 
program is neutral as to the types of tech-
nology used to provide broadband service 
to promote competition from broadband 
service providers to qualify under such pro-
gram. 
‘‘(ii) AUTHORIZATION.—A broadband 
service provider need not be an eligible 
telecommunications carrier to receive sup-
port under the broadband lifeline program, 
but such provider shall obtain authoriza-
tion from the Commission in order to par-
ticipate in the program.’’. 
Æ 
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