Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Rural Broadband Infrastructure Investment Act”.
Rural Broadband Infrastructure Investment Act
A BILL
To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to increase regional telecommunications development, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Rural telecommunications development
In general— Title II of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 922 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“208. Regional telecommunications development
“In addition to any preference given under section 201 with respect to a telephone loan made under this Act, the Secretary may give preference to an application for such a loan for a project that, as determined by the Secretary, supports the development of telecommunications services on a multijurisdictional basis. In evaluating such an application, the Secretary shall consider whether—
“(1) the project that is the subject of the application was developed through the collaboration and participation of multiple stakeholders in the service area of the project, including State, local, and tribal governments, nonprofit institutions, institutions of higher education, and private entities;
“(2) the applicant has an understanding of the applicable regional resources that could support the project, including natural resources, human resources, infrastructure, and financial resources; and
“(3) the project has clear objectives and includes a means to establish measurable performance measures and to track progress toward meeting such objectives.”
Exemption from State agency requirement— Section 201 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 922) is amended in the last sentence by inserting “or the application involved is an application described in section 208” before the period at the end.
Definition of rural area— Section 203(b) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 924(b)) is amended by striking “5,000” and inserting “20,000”.
Sec. 3 Rural broadband development
in subsection (a), by striking “loans and loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, and grants”;
in subsection (c)—
in the subsection heading, by striking “and loan guarantees” and inserting “loan guarantees, and grants”;
in paragraph (1), by inserting “, and may make grants,” after “loans”; and
in paragraph (2)—
in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “loans or loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, or grants”;
in subparagraph (A)—
by striking “loan and loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, and grant”; and
by striking “loans and loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, and grants”; and
in subparagraph (C), by striking “loans or loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, or grants”;
in subsection (d)—
in paragraph (1)(A)—
in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in clause (ii), by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”; and
in clause (iii)—
by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”; and
by striking “loan made or guaranteed” and inserting “loan or grant made or loan guaranteed”;
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A), in the matter preceding clause (i)—
by inserting “or the funds received through a grant made” after “guaranteed”; and
by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”; and
in subparagraph (B), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in paragraph (3)(A), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in paragraph (4), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in paragraph (5)(A), in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in paragraph (6)—
by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”; and
by striking “loan involved” and inserting “loan or grant involved”; and
in paragraph (7), by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”;
in subsection (f), by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”;
in subsection (j)—
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “loan and loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, and grant”;
in paragraph (1)—
by striking “loans” and inserting “loans or grants”; and
by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”;
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A), by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”;
in subparagraph (B), by striking “loans and loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, and grants”; and
in subparagraph (C), by striking “loans and loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, and grants”; and
in paragraph (3), by striking “loan” and inserting “loan or grant”;
by redesignating subsections (k) and (l) as subsections (l) and (m), respectively;
by inserting after subsection (j) the following new subsection:
“(k) Matching funds requirement—The recipient of a grant under this section shall provide funds, in-kind contributions, or a combination of both, from sources other than funds provided through such grant in an amount that is at least equal to 10 percent of the amount of such grant.”
in subsection (l) (as so redesignated)—
in paragraph (1), by striking “section” and all that follows through “expended.” and inserting the following:
“(A) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2015, to remain available until expended; and
“(B) $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020, to remain available until expended.”
in paragraph (2)(A), by striking “loans and loan guarantees” and inserting “loans, loan guarantees, and grants” each place it appears in clauses (i) and (ii); and
in subsection (m) (as so redesignated)—
by striking “loan or loan guarantee” and inserting “loan, loan guarantee, or grant”; and
by striking “2018” and inserting “2020”.
Priority for support for development of broadband service— Paragraph (2) of section 601(c) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb(c)), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended—
in subparagraph (C), by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(E) give priority to applicants that offer in the applications of the applicants to provide support for mutijurisdictional projects for the development of broadband service in rural areas that are developed through the collaboration and participation of multiple stakeholders in the service area of such a project, including State, local, and tribal governments, nonprofit institutions, institutions of higher education, and private entities.”