To provide grants and other incentives to promote new communications technologies, and for other purposes.

June 24, 2004

Mrs. CLINTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

To provide grants and other incentives to promote new communications technologies, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Broadband Expansion Grant Initiative of 2004'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Investing in a telecommunications infrastructure for underserved rural communities will increase the potential for long-term economic growth in those areas.

(2) Currently, too many families have to make long distance calls to connect to the Internet, and the deployment of broadband networks would make sure that connection to the Internet is more cost-effective and only a local call away.

(3) Small businesses would benefit from access to high-speed Internet links that would allow them to compete on national and international levels.

(4) Broadband deployment grants and loan guarantees would encourage private-sector investment in infrastructure advances.

SEC. 3. FACILITATION OF DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES TO UNDERSERVED RURAL AREAS.

(a) IN GENERAL- In order to facilitate the deployment by the private sector of broadband telecommunications networks and capabilities (including wireless and satellite networks and capabilities) to underserved rural areas, the Secretary of Commerce (in this section, referred to as the `Secretary') may--

(1) make grants to eligible recipients for that purpose;

(2) guarantee loans, either whole or in part, of eligible recipients the proceeds of which are to be used for that purpose; or

(3) carry out activities under both paragraphs (1) and (2).

(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS- For purposes of this section, an eligible recipient of a grant or loan guarantee under subsection (a) is any person or entity selected by the Secretary in accordance with such procedures as the Secretary shall establish.

(c) UNDERSERVED RURAL AREAS- The Secretary shall identify the areas that constitute underserved rural areas for purposes of this section.

(d) EMPHASIS ON PARTICULAR CAPABILITIES- In selecting a person or entity as an eligible recipient of a grant or loan guarantee under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give particular emphasis to persons or entities that propose to use the grant or the proceeds of the loan guaranteed, as the case may be, to leverage non-Federal resources to do one or more of the following:

(1) Provide underserved rural areas with access to Internet service by local telephone.

(2) Demonstrate new models or emerging technologies to bring broadband telecommunications services to underserved rural areas on a cost-effective basis.

(3) Use broadband telecommunications services to stimulate economic development, such as providing connections between and among industrial parks located in such areas and providing high-speed telecommunications service links to small business incubators.

(e) CONSULTATION- The Secretary may consult with the Federal Communications Commission in carrying out activities under this section.

(f) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT- The amount of any grants made under this section, and the cost (as defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a(5)) of any loans guaranteed under this section, may not, in the aggregate, exceed $100,000,000.

(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There is authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Commerce for purposes of grants and loan guarantees under this section $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, and such sums as are necessary for each fiscal year thereafter.

END