Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB98 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 98
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY15, 2025
10	10	Mrs. C
11	11	APITO(for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the
12	12	following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
13	13	Commerce, Science, and Transportation
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To require the Federal Communications Commission to es-
16	16	tablish a vetting process for prospective applicants for
17	17	high-cost universal service program funding.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Broadband Pro-4
22	22	tection Act of 2025’’. 5
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25	25	•S 98 IS
26	26	SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST 1
27	27	UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS. 2
28	28	Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 3
29	29	U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
30	30	lowing: 5
31	31	‘‘(m) V
32	32	ETTING OFHIGH-COSTFUNDRECIPIENTS.— 6
33	33	‘‘(1) D
34	34	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 7
35	35	‘‘(A) the term ‘covered funding’ means any 8
36	36	new offer of high-cost universal service program 9
37	37	funding, including funding provided through a 10
38	38	reverse competitive bidding mechanism provided 11
39	39	under this section, for the deployment of a 12
40	40	broadband-capable network and the provision of 13
41	41	supported services over the network; and 14
42	42	‘‘(B) the term ‘new covered funding award’ 15
43	43	means an award of covered funding that is 16
44	44	made based on an application submitted to the 17
45	45	Commission on or after the date on which rules 18
46	46	are promulgated under paragraph (2). 19
47	47	‘‘(2) C
48	48	OMMISSION RULEMAKING .—Not later 20
49	49	than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 21
50	50	subsection, the Commission shall initiate a rule-22
51	51	making proceeding to establish a vetting process for 23
52	52	applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered 24
53	53	funding award. 25
54	54	‘‘(3) C
55	55	ONTENTS.— 26
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58	58	•S 98 IS
59	59	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In promulgating rules 1
60	60	under paragraph (2), the Commission shall pro-2
61	61	vide that, consistent with principles of tech-3
62	62	nology neutrality, the Commission will only 4
63	63	award covered funding to applicants that can 5
64	64	demonstrate that they meet the qualifications in 6
65	65	subparagraph (B). 7
66	66	‘‘(B) Q
67	67	UALIFICATIONS DESCRIBED .—An 8
68	68	applicant for a new covered funding award shall 9
69	69	include in the initial application a proposal con-10
70	70	taining sufficient detail and documentation for 11
71	71	the Commission to ascertain that the applicant 12
72	72	possesses the technical, financial, and oper-13
73	73	ational capabilities, and has a reasonable busi-14
74	74	ness plan, to deploy the proposed network and 15
75	75	deliver services with the relevant performance 16
76	76	characteristics and requirements defined by the 17
77	77	Commission and as pledged by the applicant. 18
78	78	‘‘(C) E
79	79	VALUATION OF PROPOSAL .—The 19
80	80	Commission shall evaluate a proposal described 20
81	81	in subparagraph (B) against— 21
82	82	‘‘(i) reasonable and well-established 22
83	83	technical, financial, and operational stand-23
84	84	ards, including the technical standards 24
85	85	adopted by the Commission in orders of 25
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88	88	•S 98 IS
89	89	the Commission relating to Establishing 1
90	90	the Digital Opportunity Data Collection 2
91	91	(WC Docket No. 19–195) (or orders of the 3
92	92	Commission relating to modernizing any 4
93	93	successor collection) for purposes of enti-5
94	94	ties that must report broadband avail-6
95	95	ability coverage; and 7
96	96	‘‘(ii) the applicant’s history of com-8
97	97	plying with requirements in Commission 9
98	98	and other government broadband deploy-10
99	99	ment funding programs. 11
100	100	‘‘(D) P
101	101	ENALTIES FOR PRE-AUTHORIZATION 12
102	102	DEFAULTS.—In adopting rules for any new cov-13
103	103	ered funding award, the Commission shall set a 14
104	104	penalty for pre-authorization defaults of at least 15
105	105	$9,000 per violation and may not limit the base 16
106	106	forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of 17
107	107	the applicant’s total support, unless the Com-18
108	108	mission demonstrates the need for lower pen-19
109	109	alties in a particular instance.’’. 20
110	110	Æ
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