| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1838 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve access to |
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| 6 | 6 | | broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, including by en- |
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| 7 | 7 | | couraging the provision of broadband loans and grants to increase |
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| 8 | 8 | | broadband service in rural ports, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | MARCH4, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Ms. P |
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| 12 | 12 | | LASKETT(for herself and Mr. MOOREof Alabama) introduced the fol- |
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| 13 | 13 | | lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in |
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| 14 | 14 | | addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be |
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| 15 | 15 | | subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration |
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| 16 | 16 | | of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- |
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| 17 | 17 | | cerned |
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| 18 | 18 | | A BILL |
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| 19 | 19 | | To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve |
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| 20 | 20 | | access to broadband telecommunications services in rural |
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| 21 | 21 | | areas, including by encouraging the provision of |
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| 22 | 22 | | broadband loans and grants to increase broadband serv- |
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| 23 | 23 | | ice in rural ports, and for other purposes. |
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| 24 | 24 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 25 | 25 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 27 | 27 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Internet 4 |
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| 28 | 28 | | for Small Ports Act’’. 5 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Section 601 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (1) in subsection (c)— 5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (A) in paragraph (2)— 6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (i) in subparagraph (A)— 7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (I) in clause (i)— 8 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (aa) by striking ‘‘of at 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | least—’’ and inserting a semi-10 |
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| 42 | 42 | | colon; and 11 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (bb) by striking subclauses 12 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (I) and (II); 13 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (II) in clause (iii), by striking 14 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (III) in clause (iv), by striking 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 17 |
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| 49 | 49 | | and’’; and 18 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (IV) by adding at the end the fol-19 |
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| 51 | 51 | | lowing: 20 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ‘‘(v) give priority to applications for 21 |
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| 53 | 53 | | projects to provide rapid and expanded de-22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ployment of fixed and mobile broadband on 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | cropland and ranchland within a service 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | territory for use in various applications of 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | precision agriculture.’’; 26 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 61 | 61 | | (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (I) in clause (i)— 2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (aa) in subclause (III), by 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | inserting ‘‘or’’ after the semi-4 |
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| 65 | 65 | | colon; 5 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (bb) in subclause (IV), by 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | striking ‘‘or’’ and inserting 7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘and’’; and 8 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (cc) by striking subclause 9 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (V); and 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (II) in clause (ii)— 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (aa) in the matter preceding 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | subclause (I), by striking ‘‘2’’ 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | and inserting ‘‘1’’; 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (bb) in subclause (IV), by 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi-16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | colon; 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (cc) in subclause (V), by 18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | period at the end; and 20 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (dd) by striking subclause 21 |
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| 82 | 82 | | (VI); and 22 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (iii) by adding at the end the fol-23 |
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| 84 | 84 | | lowing: 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ‘‘(C) P |
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| 86 | 86 | | ORTS IN RURAL AREAS PRIORITY .— 25 |
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| 89 | 89 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 90 | 90 | | ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF PORT .—In this 1 |
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| 91 | 91 | | subparagraph, the term ‘port’ means— 2 |
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| 92 | 92 | | ‘‘(I) any port on the navigable 3 |
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| 93 | 93 | | waters of the United States, including 4 |
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| 94 | 94 | | territories; 5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | ‘‘(II) any harbor, marine ter-6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | minal, or other shore side facility used 7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | principally for the movement of goods 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | on inland waters; and 9 |
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| 99 | 99 | | ‘‘(III) any port formed in accord-10 |
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| 100 | 100 | | ance with applicable State or territory 11 |
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| 101 | 101 | | law. 12 |
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| 102 | 102 | | ‘‘(ii) P |
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| 103 | 103 | | RIORITY.—In addition to the 13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | priority given under subparagraph (B), the 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | Secretary shall give equal priority to an 15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | application for a project that would in-16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | crease the availability of broadband service 17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | in a port in a rural area. 18 |
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| 109 | 109 | | ‘‘(D) I |
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| 110 | 110 | | DENTIFICATION OF UNSERVED COM -19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | MUNITIES.— 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | ‘‘(i) I |
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| 113 | 113 | | N GENERAL.—In the case of an 21 |
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| 114 | 114 | | application given the highest priority under 22 |
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| 115 | 115 | | subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary shall 23 |
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| 116 | 116 | | confirm that each unserved rural commu-24 |
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| 118 | 118 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 |
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| 119 | 119 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 120 | 120 | | nity identified in the application is eligible 1 |
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| 121 | 121 | | for funding by— 2 |
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| 122 | 122 | | ‘‘(I) conferring with and obtain-3 |
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| 123 | 123 | | ing data from the Chair of the Fed-4 |
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| 124 | 124 | | eral Communications Commission and 5 |
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| 125 | 125 | | the Administrator of the National 6 |
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| 126 | 126 | | Telecommunications and Information 7 |
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| 127 | 127 | | Administration with respect to the 8 |
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| 128 | 128 | | service area proposed in the applica-9 |
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| 129 | 129 | | tion; 10 |
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| 130 | 130 | | ‘‘(II) reviewing any other source 11 |
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| 131 | 131 | | that is relevant to service data valida-12 |
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| 132 | 132 | | tion, as determined by the Secretary; 13 |
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| 133 | 133 | | and 14 |
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| 134 | 134 | | ‘‘(III) performing site-specific 15 |
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| 135 | 135 | | testing to verify the unavailability of 16 |
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| 136 | 136 | | any residential broadband service in 17 |
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| 137 | 137 | | the unserved rural community. 18 |
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| 138 | 138 | | ‘‘(ii) A |
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| 139 | 139 | | DJUSTMENTS.—Not less often 19 |
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| 140 | 140 | | than once every 2 years, the Secretary 20 |
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| 141 | 141 | | shall review, and may adjust through no-21 |
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| 142 | 142 | | tice published in the Federal Register, the 22 |
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| 143 | 143 | | unserved communities identified under 23 |
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| 144 | 144 | | clause (i).’’; and 24 |
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| 147 | 147 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 148 | 148 | | (B) in paragraph (3), by striking subpara-1 |
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| 149 | 149 | | graphs (C) and (D) and inserting the following: 2 |
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| 150 | 150 | | ‘‘(C) M |
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| 151 | 151 | | AXIMUM.—Except as provided in 3 |
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| 152 | 152 | | subparagraph (D), the amount of any grant 4 |
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| 153 | 153 | | made under this section shall not exceed 50 5 |
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| 154 | 154 | | percent of the development costs of the project 6 |
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| 155 | 155 | | for which the grant is provided. 7 |
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| 156 | 156 | | ‘‘(D) S |
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| 157 | 157 | | ECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO AD -8 |
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| 158 | 158 | | JUST.—The Secretary may make grants of up 9 |
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| 159 | 159 | | to 75 percent of the development costs of the 10 |
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| 160 | 160 | | project for which the grant is provided to an el-11 |
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| 161 | 161 | | igible entity if the Secretary determines that 12 |
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| 162 | 162 | | the project serves— 13 |
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| 163 | 163 | | ‘‘(i) an area of rural households de-14 |
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| 164 | 164 | | scribed in paragraph (2)(A)(ii); and 15 |
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| 165 | 165 | | ‘‘(ii) a rural community described in 16 |
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| 166 | 166 | | any of subclauses (I) through (IV) of para-17 |
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| 167 | 167 | | graph (2)(B)(i).’’; 18 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (2) in subsection (d)— 19 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (A) in paragraph (1)— 20 |
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| 170 | 170 | | (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 21 |
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| 171 | 171 | | ‘‘subsection (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 22 |
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| 172 | 172 | | (l)’’; and 23 |
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| 173 | 173 | | (ii) by adding at the end the fol-24 |
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| 174 | 174 | | lowing: 25 |
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| 177 | 177 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 178 | 178 | | ‘‘(C) RELATION TO UNIVERSAL SERVICE 1 |
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| 179 | 179 | | HIGH-COST SUPPORT .—The Secretary shall 2 |
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| 180 | 180 | | communicate with the Federal Communications 3 |
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| 181 | 181 | | Commission to ensure that any grants, loans, or 4 |
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| 182 | 182 | | loan guarantees made under this section pro-5 |
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| 183 | 183 | | vide a level of service that is not less than the 6 |
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| 184 | 184 | | level of service provided through universal serv-7 |
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| 185 | 185 | | ice high-cost support (as defined in section 54.5 8 |
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| 186 | 186 | | of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 9 |
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| 187 | 187 | | successor regulation) provided by the Commis-10 |
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| 188 | 188 | | sion.’’; 11 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (B) in paragraph (2)— 12 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (i) in subparagraph (A)— 13 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘50’’ 14 |
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| 192 | 192 | | and inserting ‘‘90’’; and 15 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3’’ 16 |
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| 194 | 194 | | and inserting ‘‘2’’; and 17 |
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| 195 | 195 | | (C) by adding at the end the following: 18 |
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| 196 | 196 | | ‘‘(6) A |
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| 197 | 197 | | PPLICATION PROCESS .—The Secretary 19 |
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| 198 | 198 | | shall provide to an applicant of a grant, loan, or 20 |
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| 199 | 199 | | loan guarantee under this section feedback and deci-21 |
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| 200 | 200 | | sions on funding in a timely manner.’’; 22 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (3) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as 23 |
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| 202 | 202 | | subsections (l) and (m), respectively; 24 |
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| 205 | 205 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 206 | 206 | | (4) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol-1 |
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| 207 | 207 | | lowing: 2 |
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| 208 | 208 | | ‘‘(j) B |
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| 209 | 209 | | ROADBANDBUILDOUTDATA.—As a condition 3 |
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| 210 | 210 | | of receiving a grant, loan, or loan guarantee under this 4 |
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| 211 | 211 | | section, a recipient of assistance shall provide to the Sec-5 |
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| 212 | 212 | | retary complete, reliable, and precise geolocation informa-6 |
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| 213 | 213 | | tion that indicates the location of new broadband service 7 |
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| 214 | 214 | | that is being provided or upgraded within the service terri-8 |
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| 215 | 215 | | tory supported by the grant, loan, or loan guarantee not 9 |
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| 216 | 216 | | later than 30 days after the earlier of— 10 |
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| 217 | 217 | | ‘‘(1) the date of completion of any project mile-11 |
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| 218 | 218 | | stone established by the Secretary; or 12 |
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| 219 | 219 | | ‘‘(2) the date of completion of the project. 13 |
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| 220 | 220 | | ‘‘(k) E |
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| 221 | 221 | | NVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS.—The Secretary 14 |
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| 222 | 222 | | may obligate, but not disperse, funds under this Act before 15 |
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| 223 | 223 | | the completion of otherwise required environmental, his-16 |
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| 224 | 224 | | torical, or other types of reviews if the Secretary deter-17 |
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| 225 | 225 | | mines that a subsequent site-specific review shall be ade-18 |
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| 226 | 226 | | quate and easily accomplished for the location of towers, 19 |
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| 227 | 227 | | poles, or other broadband facilities in the service area of 20 |
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| 228 | 228 | | the borrower without compromising the project or the re-21 |
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| 229 | 229 | | quired reviews.’’; and 22 |
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| 230 | 230 | | (5) in subsection (l)(2)(A) (as so redesig-23 |
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| 231 | 231 | | nated)— 24 |
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| 233 | 233 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 |
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| 234 | 234 | | •HR 1838 IH |
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| 235 | 235 | | (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1 |
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| 236 | 236 | | end; 2 |
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| 237 | 237 | | (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 3 |
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| 238 | 238 | | the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 |
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| 239 | 239 | | (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 |
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| 240 | 240 | | ‘‘(iii) set aside at least 1 percent to be 6 |
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| 241 | 241 | | used for— 7 |
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| 242 | 242 | | ‘‘(I) conducting oversight under 8 |
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| 243 | 243 | | this section; and 9 |
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| 244 | 244 | | ‘‘(II) implementing accountability 10 |
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| 245 | 245 | | measures and related activities au-11 |
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| 246 | 246 | | thorized under this section.’’. 12 |
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| 247 | 247 | | Æ |
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