| 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. 46 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Federal Communications Commission to prioritize the timely |
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| 6 | 6 | | processing of certain long-form applications in the Rural Digital Oppor- |
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| 7 | 7 | | tunity Fund Phase II auction. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY3, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. B |
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| 11 | 11 | | ERGMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 12 | 12 | | Committee on Energy and Commerce |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To direct the Federal Communications Commission to |
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| 15 | 15 | | prioritize the timely processing of certain long-form ap- |
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| 16 | 16 | | plications in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase |
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| 17 | 17 | | II auction. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Broadband Win-4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | dow of Opportunity Act’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 |
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| 24 | 24 | | The purpose of this Act is to level the playing field 7 |
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| 25 | 25 | | for service providers participating in the Rural Digital Op-8 |
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| 26 | 26 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:48 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H46.IH H46 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •HR 46 IH |
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| 29 | 29 | | portunity Fund that are disadvantaged by short construc-1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | tion seasons. 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | SEC. 3. APPLICATION PROCESSING PRIORITIZATION. 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | With respect to the long-form applicants of the Rural 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II auction provided for 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | in the Report and Order in the matter of Rural Digital 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Opportunity Fund and Connect America Fund adopted by 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the Federal Communications Commission (in this section 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) on January 30, 2020 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (FCC 20–5), the Commission shall prioritize the timely 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | processing of long-form applications and any subsequent 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | paperwork (in this section referred to as the ‘‘applica-12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | tions’’) submitted by the long-form applicants as follows: 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | The Commission shall prioritize the timely processing of 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | applications which are proposing to provide service in geo-15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | graphic areas which the Commission determines to have 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | the shortest construction seasons (such as in areas charac-17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | terized by long winters with heavy snowfall). 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | Æ |
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| 48 | 48 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:48 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H46.IH H46 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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