Title: Community Broadband Act of 2018
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Community Broadband Act of 2018
This bill amends the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to bar states from prohibiting their state government, a political subdivision, or an Indian tribe from providing (i.e., serving as a "public provider" of) high-speed broadband telecommunications capabilities or services to persons or public or private entities.
A public provider that regulates competing private providers of such telecommunications services may not discriminate in favor of itself or a provider that it owns.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4814 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4814

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the 
   ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and 
                               services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2018

   Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Ellison, Mr. Khanna, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Pocan, and Mr. Polis) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the 
   ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and 
                               services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Community Broadband Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. COMMUNITY BROADBAND CAPABILITY AND SERVICES.

    Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e) and 
        inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d) Local Government Provision of Advanced Telecommunications 
Capability and Services.--
            ``(1) In general.--No State statute, regulation, or other 
        State legal requirement may prohibit or have the effect of 
        prohibiting any public provider from providing, to any person 
        or any public or private entity, advanced telecommunications 
        capability or any service that utilizes the advanced 
        telecommunications capability provided by such provider.
            ``(2) Antidiscrimination safeguards.--To the extent any 
        public provider regulates competing private providers of 
        advanced telecommunications capability or services that utilize 
        advanced telecommunications capability, it shall apply its 
        ordinances and rules without discrimination in favor of itself 
        or any provider that it owns of services that utilize advanced 
        telecommunications capability.
            ``(3) Savings clause.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        exempt a public provider from any Federal or State 
        telecommunications law or regulation that applies to all 
        providers of advanced telecommunications capability or services 
        that utilize such advanced telecommunications capability.''; 
        and
            (2) in subsection (e), as redesignated--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``this subsection'' and inserting ``this 
                section''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Public provider.--The term `public provider' means a 
        State or political subdivision thereof, any agency, authority, 
        or instrumentality of a State or political subdivision thereof, 
        or an Indian tribe (as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian 
        Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
        5304(e))), that provides advanced telecommunications 
        capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced 
        telecommunications capability, to any person or public or 
        private entity.''.
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