Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2399 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2399
5	5	To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting
6	6	process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program
7	7	funding.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH27, 2025
10	10	Mrs. H
11	11	OUCHIN(for herself and Ms. KELLYof Illinois) introduced the
12	12	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To require the Federal Communications Commission to es-
15	15	tablish a vetting process for prospective applicants for
16	16	high-cost universal service program funding.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Broadband Pro-4
21	21	tection Act of 2025’’. 5
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24	24	•HR 2399 IH
25	25	SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST 1
26	26	UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS. 2
27	27	Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 3
28	28	U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
29	29	lowing: 5
30	30	‘‘(m) V
31	31	ETTING OFHIGH-COSTFUNDRECIPIENTS.— 6
32	32	‘‘(1) D
33	33	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 7
34	34	‘‘(A) the term ‘covered funding’ means any 8
35	35	new offer of high-cost universal service program 9
36	36	funding, including funding provided through a 10
37	37	reverse competitive bidding mechanism provided 11
38	38	under this section, for the deployment of a 12
39	39	broadband-capable network and the provision of 13
40	40	supported services over the network; and 14
41	41	‘‘(B) the term ‘new covered funding award’ 15
42	42	means an award of covered funding that is 16
43	43	made based on an application submitted to the 17
44	44	Commission on or after the date on which rules 18
45	45	are promulgated under paragraph (2). 19
46	46	‘‘(2) C
47	47	OMMISSION RULEMAKING .—Not later 20
48	48	than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 21
49	49	subsection, the Commission shall initiate a rule-22
50	50	making proceeding to establish a vetting process for 23
51	51	applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered 24
52	52	funding award. 25
53	53	‘‘(3) C
54	54	ONTENTS.— 26
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57	57	•HR 2399 IH
58	58	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In promulgating rules 1
59	59	under paragraph (2), the Commission shall pro-2
60	60	vide that, consistent with principles of tech-3
61	61	nology neutrality, the Commission will only 4
62	62	award covered funding to applicants that can 5
63	63	demonstrate that they meet the qualifications in 6
64	64	subparagraph (B). 7
65	65	‘‘(B) Q
66	66	UALIFICATIONS DESCRIBED .—An 8
67	67	applicant for a new covered funding award shall 9
68	68	include in the initial application a proposal con-10
69	69	taining sufficient detail and documentation for 11
70	70	the Commission to ascertain that the applicant 12
71	71	possesses the technical, financial, and oper-13
72	72	ational capabilities, and has a reasonable busi-14
73	73	ness plan, to deploy the proposed network and 15
74	74	deliver services with the relevant performance 16
75	75	characteristics and requirements defined by the 17
76	76	Commission and as pledged by the applicant. 18
77	77	‘‘(C) E
78	78	VALUATION OF PROPOSAL .—The 19
79	79	Commission shall evaluate a proposal described 20
80	80	in subparagraph (B) against— 21
81	81	‘‘(i) reasonable and well-established 22
82	82	technical, financial, and operational stand-23
83	83	ards, including the technical standards 24
84	84	adopted by the Commission in orders of 25
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87	87	•HR 2399 IH
88	88	the Commission relating to Establishing 1
89	89	the Digital Opportunity Data Collection 2
90	90	(WC Docket No. 19–195) (or orders of the 3
91	91	Commission relating to modernizing any 4
92	92	successor collection) for purposes of enti-5
93	93	ties that must report broadband avail-6
94	94	ability coverage; and 7
95	95	‘‘(ii) the applicant’s history of com-8
96	96	plying with requirements in the Commis-9
97	97	sion and other government broadband de-10
98	98	ployment funding programs. 11
99	99	‘‘(D) P
100	100	ENALTIES FOR PRE-AUTHORIZATION 12
101	101	DEFAULTS.—In adopting rules for any new cov-13
102	102	ered funding award, the Commission shall set a 14
103	103	penalty for pre-authorization defaults of at least 15
104	104	$9,000 per violation and may not limit the base 16
105	105	forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of 17
106	106	the applicant’s total support, unless the Com-18
107	107	mission demonstrates the need for lower pen-19
108	108	alties in a particular instance.’’. 20
109	109	Æ
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