Rural Broadband Window of Opportunity Act

Bill: 119-hr-46
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Bergman, Jack [R-MI-1]
Introduced: 2025-01-03
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-03
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-03
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Rural Broadband Window of Opportunity Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prioritize the processing of applications for certain rural broadband expansion projects that are located in areas with the shortest construction seasons (e.g., areas with long winters and heavy snowfall).</p><p>Specifically, the FCC must prioritize processing such applications for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase II auction, which aims to facilitate the provision of broadband service to&nbsp;areas&nbsp;that are&nbsp;partially served. (The RDOF program's first phase, which is focused on broadband service for wholly unserved areas, is underway.)</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 46 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 3, 2025 Mr. Bergman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to prioritize the timely processing of certain long-form applications in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Rural Broadband Window of Opportunity Act . 2. Purpose The purpose of this Act is to level the playing field for service providers participating in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that are disadvantaged by short construction seasons. 3. Application Processing Prioritization With respect to the long-form applicants of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction provided for in the Report and Order in the matter of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and Connect America Fund adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (in this section referred to as the Commission ) on January 30, 2020 (FCC 20–5), the Commission shall prioritize the timely processing of long-form applications and any subsequent paperwork (in this section referred to as the applications ) submitted by the long-form applicants as follows: The Commission shall prioritize the timely processing of applications which are proposing to provide service in geographic areas which the Commission determines to have the shortest construction seasons (such as in areas characterized by long winters with heavy snowfall).