47 U.S.C. § 393 — Criteria for approval and expenditures by Secretary

(a) Construction and planning grants: The Secretary, working with the Corporation, public telecommunications entities, and others as appropriate, must set criteria for deciding which construction and planning grants to approve. These criteria must match the goals and rules of this subpart, and must be shared with anyone who asks for them. (b) Basis for determination: The Secretary must decide whether to approve grant applications — and how much money to give — using the criteria from (a), designed to reach these goals: (1) build new facilities to bring public telecommunications service to areas that don't have it yet; (2) expand the service areas of telecommunications entities that already exist; (3) develop facilities that are owned by, run by, and open to minorities and women; and (4) improve existing public broadcast stations' ability to serve underserved audiences, including deaf and hard-of-hearing people and blind and visually impaired people. (c) Noncommercial radio broadcast station facilities: Of the money appropriated under section 391 of this title for any fiscal year, a substantial amount must go toward expanding and developing noncommercial radio broadcast stations.