Every Child Connected Act

Bill: 117-s-1381
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV]
Introduced: 2021-04-27
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Education of the disadvantaged

Education programs funding

Educational technology and distance education

Elementary and secondary education

Intergovernmental relations

State and local government operations

Telecommunication rates and fees
Latest action: action_date: 2021-04-27
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-04-27
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Every Child Connected Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to modify the E-rate program, which allots broadband discounts to schools and libraries.</p> <p>Specifically, the FCC must modify the program to (1) expand the eligible activities that qualify as being for educational purposes, (2) deem certain households in which students are participating in distance learning and are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals to be classrooms, and (3) provide that a school's eligibility shall not be diminished if it extends services obtained through the program to households with a child who is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1381 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 27, 2021 Mrs. Capito (for herself and Ms. Klobuchar ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Federal Communications Commission to make amendments to the E-rate program of the Commission, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Every Child Connected Act . 2. E-rate program (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission; (2) the term covered household means a household with a child eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or free or reduced price school breakfasts under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); (3) the term distance learning has the meaning given the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 ); and (4) the term E-rate program means the universal service program set forth under subpart F of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations). (b) Updates to E-Rate program (1) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall amend the E-rate program to provide that— (A) activities that are integral, immediate, and proximate to the education of a student, even if those activities are performed in a covered household, qualify as activities that are for educational purposes for the purposes of the E-rate program; (B) a covered household in which a student is engaged or participating in distance learning shall be deemed to be a classroom for the purposes of the E-rate program; and (C) the eligibility of a school under the E-rate program, or any support received by a school through the E-rate program, shall not be diminished if the school extends services obtained through the E-rate program to a covered household. (2) Coordination In making the amendments required under paragraph (1), the Commission shall coordinate with the Secretary of Education and appropriate instrumentalities of State and local governments. (3) Technical and conforming amendments Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 254 ) is amended— (A) in subsection (b)(6), by inserting covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act), after schools and classrooms, ; (B) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act), after schools, ; and (C) in subsection (h)— (i) in paragraph (1)(B), in the first sentence of the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act), after secondary schools, ; and (ii) in paragraph (2)— (I) in subparagraph (A), by inserting covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act), after classrooms, ; and (II) in subparagraph (B), by inserting or household after public institutional .