47 U.S.C. § 1705 — Grants for broadband connectivity

(a) Definitions. (1) "Assistant Secretary" means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. (2) "Broadband" and "broadband service" have the meaning given to "broadband internet access service" in section 8.1(b) of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or a successor regulation. This section does not define that term. (3) "Commission" means the Federal Communications Commission. (4) "Covered broadband project" means a project that is competitively and technologically neutral, deploys fixed broadband service, and provides qualifying broadband service in an eligible service area. (5) "Covered partnership" means a partnership between (A) a State or one or more of its political subdivisions and (B) a provider of fixed broadband service. (6) "Department" means the Department of Commerce. (7) "Eligible service area" means a census block where broadband service is unavailable at one or more households or businesses, as the Assistant Secretary determines from (A) maps made under section 802(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934, or (B) if those maps are unavailable, the latest information available to the Assistant Secretary, including Commission information. (8) "Eligible entity" means (A) a Tribal Government; (B) a Tribal College or University; (C) the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands acting for the Native Hawaiian Community, including Native Hawaiian Education Programs; (D) a Tribal organization; or (E) a Native Corporation. (9) "Native Corporation" has the meaning given in section 1602 of title 43. This section does not define it. (10) "Native Hawaiian" has the meaning given in section 4221 of title 25. This section does not define it. (11) "Qualifying broadband service" means broadband service with download speed of at least 25 megabits per second, upload speed of at least 3 megabits per second, and latency sufficient for real-time interactive applications. (12) "Tribal Government" means the governing body of an Indian or Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, component band, or component reservation that is individually recognized (including parenthetically) in the list most recently published as of December 27, 2020, under section 5131 of title 25. (13) "Tribal land" means (A) land within an Indian reservation, pueblo, rancheria, or former Oklahoma reservation; (B) land outside those boundaries whose title is held (i) in trust by the United States for an Indian Tribe or individual Indian, (ii) by a Tribe or individual Indian subject to a restriction on alienation under United States law, or (iii) by a dependent Indian community; (C) land in a region established under section 1606(a) of title 43; (D) Hawaiian Home Lands as defined in section 4221 of title 25; or (E) areas or communities designated by the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior as near, adjacent, or contiguous to reservations where financial assistance and social service programs are provided to Indians because they are Indians. (14) A household is "unserved" if (A) it lacks qualifying broadband service and (B) no provider has been selected for, or is receiving, Federal or State funding with enforceable commitments to build qualifying service in that specific area by specified dates, even if service is not yet available, unless the funding agency has found the provider in default. (b) Direct appropriation. For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, the Assistant Secretary receives, from otherwise unappropriated Treasury money and with the money available until spent, $1 billion for subsection (c) grants and $300 million for subsection (d) grants. (c) Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. (1) The Assistant Secretary must use the subsection (b)(1) money for grants to eligible entities to expand access to and adoption of (A) broadband on Tribal land or (B) remote learning, telework, or telehealth resources. (2) From that money, the Assistant Secretary must award a grant to each eligible entity whose application the Assistant Secretary approves after consulting the Commission to prevent duplicate funding. (3)(A) The money must be made available to eligible entities equitably, and at least 3 percent must benefit Native Hawaiians. (B) The Assistant Secretary may use no more than 2 percent for administration, including technical help for Tribal Governments using this program. (4)(A)(i) An eligible entity must commit money according to its approved application no later than 18 months after receiving the allocation for a particular grant. (ii) Money not committed by then must be made available to other eligible entities for this subsection’s purposes. (B)(i) An eligible entity must spend the grant money no later than four years after receiving the allocation. (ii) For broadband-infrastructure construction, the Assistant Secretary may extend that period if the entity certifies that it has a plan, construction is underway, or extenuating circumstances require more time to finish. (iii) For another eligible use, the Assistant Secretary may extend the period for good cause shown through the entity’s detailed explanation of the need. (iv) Money not spent by the deadline must be made available to other eligible entities. (C) If an entity receives multiple grants, these deadlines apply separately to each grant. (5) Grant money may be used for (A) broadband infrastructure, including carrier-neutral submarine cable landing stations; (B) affordable broadband programs, including free or reduced-cost service and preventing existing service from being disconnected; (C) distance learning; (D) telehealth; (E) digital inclusion; and (F) broadband adoption. (6)(A) An entity may use no more than 2 percent of its grant for administration, unless (B) an entity proposing broadband-infrastructure construction may use up to 2.5 percent of total project cost for related planning, feasibility, and sustainability studies. (7)(A) An entity may contract with a subgrantee, including a non-Tribal entity. (B) Before doing so, after a reasonable investigation, it must determine that the subgrantee (i) can competently carry out the project while following all applicable laws, (ii) has the financial capacity to meet the project and subsection requirements, and (iii) has the technical and operational capacity to carry out the project. The contract must include reasonable recovery provisions for nonperformance. (8) For new broadband-infrastructure construction, the entity must prioritize projects serving unserved households. (d) Broadband infrastructure program. (1) The Assistant Secretary must use the subsection (b)(2) money for competitive grants to covered partnerships for covered broadband projects. (2)(A) At least annually, the Commission must provide the Assistant Secretary data it collected under title VIII of the Communications Act through the process in section 802(b)(7). (B) The Assistant Secretary must rely on that data as much as practicable. (3) A partnership must apply when and how the Assistant Secretary requires and include at least: (A) a description of the partnership; (B) a description of the project, including planned service speeds and cost; (C) the area to be served, called the "proposed service area"; and (D) all support for the provider in that area through State grants, loans, or guarantees; Agriculture Department support under title VI of the Rural Electrification Act, including sections 601-604 and Community Connect, or the Rural eConnectivity Pilot or ReConnect Program; high-cost universal-service support under section 254 of the Communications Act; grants under section 1305 of title 47; Education Stabilization Fund money under the CARES Act; and any other Federal grant, loan, or guarantee for broadband. (4) In declining priority, the Assistant Secretary must favor (A) projects serving the most households in an eligible area; (B) projects whose eligible area is wholly outside a county, city, or town over 50,000 people and its contiguous adjacent urbanized area; (C) the most cost-effective projects, with priority to the most rural areas; (D) projects offering at least 100 megabits-per-second downloads and 20 megabits-per-second uploads; and (E) any other project meeting this subsection. (5)(A) A partnership must spend the money within one year. (B) The Assistant Secretary may extend that period for infrastructure construction if the partnership certifies it has a plan, construction is underway, or unusual circumstances require more time. (C) Unspent money must go to other partnerships. (6)(A) As a grant condition, the Assistant Secretary must prohibit the provider from using grant money to repay or otherwise pay on a public or private loan, use it as loan collateral, or spend more than $50,000 preparing the grant. (B) The Assistant Secretary may not require the provider to be an eligible telecommunications carrier under section 214(e) of the Communications Act to receive or keep the grant. (e) Implementation. (1) Between 30 and 60 days after December 27, 2020, the Assistant Secretary must issue a notice inviting applications and explaining award decisions, application requirements, and allowed uses. (2)(A) Applicants may apply during the 90 days after the notice. (B)(i) The Assistant Secretary must approve or deny an application within 90 days. (ii) It may deny only after giving the applicant a chance to fix defects and finding that the applicant still fails the section’s requirements. (C) An applicant may submit only one application under this paragraph. (D) It must describe every proposed use. (E) Within 14 days after approval, the Assistant Secretary must allocate the money. (F)(i) If an applicant misses the deadline or its application is not approved, the money allocated to it must go equitably to other eligible entities, or to other partnerships, as applicable. (ii) The Assistant Secretary must start a second notice-and-application process to reallocate that money. (3) The Assistant Secretary must adopt transparency, accountability, and oversight measures, including audits, to inform the public about awards and spending, ensure compliance and program purpose, and deter waste, fraud, and abuse. (4) Grant money may not buy or support covered communications equipment or services as defined in section 1608 of title 47. This section does not define that term. (5) If the Assistant Secretary or Department Inspector General finds a recipient spent money in violation of this section, the Assistant Secretary must recover that amount. (6)(A) "Initial round of funding" means money allocated under paragraph (2)(E) from subsection (b)(1), not money reallocated under paragraph (2)(F). (B) If Congress later appropriates more subsection (c) money, the Assistant Secretary may first fully fund grants for which an application was received and that were not fully funded in the initial round and must distribute the rest in later rounds consistently with this section, except as stated next. (C) It need not issue another notice, but must tell eligible entities about the new money and changes made by section 60201 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; the one-application rule applies separately to each round; the application period becomes 180 days after that notice; and, despite paragraph (2)(F), initially unallocated subsection (b)(1) money may be used in a later subsection (c) round. (f) Reporting. (1)(A) Starting one year after receiving money and annually until it is spent, each recipient must report to the Assistant Secretary for the prior year’s period: how it spent the money; a certification of compliance with this section and added reporting rules, including each service provided and the number of locations or areas served; and each subgrantee and project. (B) The Assistant Secretary must give this information to the Commission and Agriculture Department for their broadband-funding decisions. (C) Within five days after receiving an eligible entity’s report, it must send the report to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee. (2) Six months after the first award, and every six months until all money is spent, the Inspector General and Comptroller General must each report to those committees on grants during the preceding six months and recommend ways to address any waste, fraud, or abuse. (g) Other programs. Using this money does not affect or disadvantage a recipient or subgrantee’s eligibility for another Federal broadband program.