Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1870 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1870
5	5	To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve the
6	6	Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH5, 2025
9	9	Mr. H
10	10	UDSON(for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. LATTA, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. CAR-
11	11	TERof Georgia, Mr. DUNNof Florida, Mr. JOYCEof Pennsylvania, Mr.
12	12	F
13	13	ULCHER, Mr. PFLUGER, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mrs.
14	14	H
15	15	OUCHIN, Mr. FRY, Mr. GOLDMANof Texas, and Mr. CRENSHAW) intro-
16	16	duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy
17	17	and Commerce
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to
20	20	improve the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment
21	21	Program, and for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Streamlining Program 4
26	26	Efficiency and Expanding Deployment for BEAD Act’’ or 5
27	27	the ‘‘SPEED for BEAD Act’’. 6
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30	30	•HR 1870 IH
31	31	SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT. 1
32	32	(a) E
33	33	LIGIBLECOMMUNITYANCHORINSTITUTION.— 2
34	34	Section 60102(a)(1)(E) of the Infrastructure Investment 3
35	35	and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(a)(1)(E)) is amended— 4
36	36	(1) by striking ‘‘The term’’ and inserting the 5
37	37	following: 6
38	38	‘‘(i) I
39	39	N GENERAL.—The term’’; and 7
40	40	(2) by adding at the end the following: 8
41	41	‘‘(ii) G
42	42	IGABIT-LEVEL BROADBAND 9
43	43	SERVICE.—In this subparagraph, the term 10
44	44	‘gigabit-level broadband service’ means re-11
45	45	liable broadband service offered with 12
46	46	download speeds of not less than 1,000 13
47	47	megabits per second.’’. 14
48	48	(b) P
49	49	ROGRAMNAME.—Section 60102 of the Infra-15
50	50	structure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702) is 16
51	51	amended— 17
52	52	(1) in subsection (a)(2)(J), by striking ‘‘Eq-18
53	53	uity’’ and inserting ‘‘Expansion’’; and 19
54	54	(2) in subsection (b)— 20
55	55	(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 21
56	56	‘‘E
57	57	QUITY’’ and inserting ‘‘EXPANSION’’; and 22
58	58	(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Equity’’ 23
59	59	and inserting ‘‘Expansion’’. 24
60	60	(c) F
61	61	UNDSUSAGE.— 25
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64	64	•HR 1870 IH
65	65	(1) FAILURE TO USE FULL ALLOCATION .—Sec-1
66	66	tion 60102(c)(5)(C)(ii) of the Infrastructure Invest-2
67	67	ment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(c)(5)(C)(ii)) is 3
68	68	amended by striking ‘‘deadline, the Assistant Sec-4
69	69	retary’’ and all that follows through the end and in-5
70	70	serting ‘‘deadline, the Assistant Secretary shall 6
71	71	transfer the unused amounts to the general fund of 7
72	72	the Treasury.’’. 8
73	73	(2) U
74	74	SE OF FUNDS.—Section 60102(f) of the 9
75	75	Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 10
76	76	1702(f)) is amended— 11
77	77	(A) in paragraph (4)(B), by striking the 12
78	78	semicolon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13
79	79	(B) by striking paragraphs (5) and (6) and 14
80	80	inserting the following: 15
81	81	‘‘(5) telecommunications workforce development 16
82	82	programs.’’. 17
83	83	(d) P
84	84	ROJECTSIZEREFORM.—Section 60102(g)(2) of 18
85	85	the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 19
86	86	1702(g)(2)) is amended— 20
87	87	(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 21
88	88	the end; 22
89	89	(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period 23
90	90	and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 24
91	91	(3) by adding at the end the following: 25
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94	94	•HR 1870 IH
95	95	‘‘(D) if the eligible entity awards a 1
96	96	subgrant on the basis of a project area defined 2
97	97	by the eligible entity, incorporate a mecha-3
98	98	nism— 4
99	99	‘‘(i) for a prospective subgrantee to 5
100	100	remove from such project area a location 6
101	101	that the prospective subgrantee determines 7
102	102	would unreasonably increase costs or is 8
103	103	otherwise necessary to remove; and 9
104	104	‘‘(ii) to award a subgrant for any lo-10
105	105	cation removed pursuant to clause (i).’’. 11
106	106	(e) P
107	107	ROHIBITION ON CERTAINCONDITIONS.—Sec-12
108	108	tion 60102(g) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 13
109	109	Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(g)) is amended by adding at the end 14
110	110	the following: 15
111	111	‘‘(4) P
112	112	ROHIBITION ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS .— 16
113	113	Neither the Assistant Secretary nor an eligible entity 17
114	114	may establish or enforce, with respect to a process 18
115	115	of bidding, a grant, or a subgrant under this section, 19
116	116	a condition or other requirement, including a report-20
117	117	ing requirement or bid scoring component or pref-21
118	118	erence, of such process of bidding, grant, or 22
119	119	subgrant (without regard to whether such condition 23
120	120	or other requirement was approved as part of the 24
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123	123	•HR 1870 IH
124	124	initial proposal, or any other portion of the applica-1
125	125	tion process, of such eligible entity) that relates to— 2
126	126	‘‘(A) prevailing wages or compliance with 3
127	127	subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United 4
128	128	States Code; 5
129	129	‘‘(B) project labor agreements; 6
130	130	‘‘(C) union workforces; 7
131	131	‘‘(D) collective bargaining; 8
132	132	‘‘(E) local hiring; 9
133	133	‘‘(F) commitment to union neutrality; 10
134	134	‘‘(G) labor peace agreements; 11
135	135	‘‘(H) workforce composition or reporting of 12
136	136	workforce composition; 13
137	137	‘‘(I) climate change; 14
138	138	‘‘(J) regulation of network management 15
139	139	practices, including data caps; 16
140	140	‘‘(K) open access; 17
141	141	‘‘(L) a letter of credit from a subgrantee 18
142	142	that— 19
143	143	‘‘(i) has commercially deployed or op-20
144	144	erated a broadband network using tech-21
145	145	nologies that are the same or similar to the 22
146	146	technologies relevant to such process of 23
147	147	bidding, grant, or subgrant; and 24
148	148	‘‘(ii) is seeking— 25
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151	151	•HR 1870 IH
152	152	‘‘(I) funding in an amount that is 1
153	153	less than 25 percent of the annual 2
154	154	revenues of the subgrantee, including 3
155	155	any entity that controls, is controlled 4
156	156	by, or that is under common control 5
157	157	with such subgrantee; or 6
158	158	‘‘(II) to provide service to a num-7
159	159	ber of locations that is less than 25 8
160	160	percent of the total number of loca-9
161	161	tions served by the subgrantee, includ-10
162	162	ing any entity that controls, is con-11
163	163	trolled by, or that is under common 12
164	164	control with such subgrantee; or 13
165	165	‘‘(M) diversity, equity, and inclusion.’’. 14
166	166	(f) A
167	167	LLTECHNOLOGIES ELIGIBLE.—Section 15
168	168	60102(g) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 16
169	169	(47 U.S.C. 1702(g)), as amended by the preceding sub-17
170	170	sections of this section, is further amended by adding at 18
171	171	the end the following: 19
172	172	‘‘(5) A
173	173	LL TECHNOLOGIES ELIGIBLE .—An eligi-20
174	174	ble entity, in awarding subgrants for the deployment 21
175	175	of a broadband network using grant funds received 22
176	176	under this section, shall treat as satisfying the defi-23
177	177	nition of the term ‘reliable broadband service’ any 24
178	178	broadband service that meets the performance cri-25
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181	181	•HR 1870 IH
182	182	teria established under subsection (a)(2)(L) without 1
183	183	regard to the type of technology by which such serv-2
184	184	ice is provided.’’. 3
185	185	(g) N
186	186	OREGULATION OFRATESPERMITTED.—Sec-4
187	187	tion 60102(h)(5)(D) of the Infrastructure Investment and 5
188	188	Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(h)(5)(D)) is amended to read 6
189	189	as follows: 7
190	190	‘‘(D) N
191	191	O REGULATION OF RATES PER -8
192	192	MITTED.— 9
193	193	‘‘(i) R
194	194	ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Noth-10
195	195	ing in this title may be construed to au-11
196	196	thorize the Assistant Secretary, the Na-12
197	197	tional Telecommunications and Informa-13
198	198	tion Administration, or an eligible entity to 14
199	199	regulate, set, or otherwise mandate the 15
200	200	rates charged for broadband service or the 16
201	201	methodologies used to calculate such rates, 17
202	202	for consumers generally or for any subset 18
203	203	of consumers, including through the cap-19
204	204	ping or freezing of such rates, the encour-20
205	205	agement of another entity to regulate such 21
206	206	rates, or the use of rates as part of an ap-22
207	207	plication scoring process. 23
208	208	‘‘(ii) P
209	209	ROHIBITION.—An eligible entity 24
210	210	may not regulate, set, or otherwise man-25
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213	213	•HR 1870 IH
214	214	date pursuant to this section the rates 1
215	215	charged for broadband service or the meth-2
216	216	odologies used to calculate such rates, in-3
217	217	cluding through the capping or freezing of 4
218	218	such rates, the encouragement of another 5
219	219	entity to regulate such rates, or the use of 6
220	220	rates as part of an application scoring 7
221	221	process, without regard to whether the reg-8
222	222	ulation, setting, or mandating— 9
223	223	‘‘(I) was approved, prior to the 10
224	224	date of the enactment of this clause, 11
225	225	as part of the initial proposal, or any 12
226	226	other portion of the application proc-13
227	227	ess, of such entity; or 14
228	228	‘‘(II) is carried out in conjunc-15
229	229	tion with the requirement to offer a 16
230	230	low-cost broadband service option 17
231	231	under paragraph (4)(B).’’. 18
232	232	Æ
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