Title: Community Broadband Act of 2019
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Community Broadband Act of 2019
This bill prohibits state and local entities from blocking the provision of broadband by public providers or public-private partnership providers. Further, public providers and state or local entities participating in such a partnership must administer applicable ordinances and rules without discrimination against competing private providers.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2785 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2785

To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the 
ability of State and local governments and public-private partnerships 
                     to provide broadband services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 2019

Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Thompson of California, and Ms. 
   Pingree) 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 State and local governments and public-private partnerships 
                     to provide broadband 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 2019''.

SEC. 2. STATE, LOCAL, AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP BROADBAND 
              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) State, Local, and Public-Private Partnership 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 or public-private partnership 
        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.--
                    ``(A) Public providers.--To the extent any public 
                provider regulates competing private providers of 
                advanced telecommunications capability or services that 
                utilize advanced telecommunications capability, such 
                public provider 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.
                    ``(B) Public-private partnership providers.--To the 
                extent any State or local entity that is part of a 
                public-private partnership provider regulates competing 
                private providers of advanced telecommunications 
                capability or services that utilize advanced 
                telecommunications capability, such State or local 
                entity shall apply its ordinances and rules without 
                discrimination in favor of such public-private 
                partnership provider or any provider that such State or 
                local entity or public-private partnership provider 
                owns of services that utilize advanced 
                telecommunications capability.
            ``(3) Savings clause.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        exempt a public provider or public-private partnership 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 local entity that provides advanced telecommunications 
        capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced 
        telecommunications capability, to any person or public or 
        private entity.
            ``(4) Public-private partnership provider.--The term 
        `public-private partnership provider' means a public-private 
        partnership, between a State or local entity and a private 
        entity, that provides advanced telecommunications capability, 
        or any service that utilizes such advanced telecommunications 
        capability, to any person or public or private entity.
            ``(5) State or local entity.--The term `State or local 
        entity' 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))).''.
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