119-hr1870

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1870 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1870

 To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve the 
 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 5, 2025

 Mr. Hudson (for himself, Mr. Allen, Mr. Latta, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. 
Carter of Georgia, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
 Fulcher, Mr. Pfluger, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Obernolte, Mrs. Houchin, Mr. 
 Fry, Mr. Goldman of Texas, and Mr. Crenshaw) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve the 
 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, 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 ``Streamlining Program Efficiency and 
Expanding Deployment for BEAD Act'' or the ``SPEED for BEAD Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT.

    (a) Eligible Community Anchor Institution.--

Section 60102

    (a)

    (1)
        (E) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (a)

    (1)
        (E) ) 
is amended--

    (1) by striking ``The term'' and inserting the following:
 ``
            (i) In general.--The term''; and

    (2) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (ii) Gigabit-level broadband service.--In 
 this subparagraph, the term `gigabit-level 
 broadband service' means reliable broadband 
 service offered with download speeds of not 
 less than 1,000 megabits per second.''.

    (b) Program Name.--

Section 60102 of the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702) is amended--

    (1) in subsection

    (a)

    (2)
        (J) , by striking ``Equity'' and 
 inserting ``Expansion''; and

    (2) in subsection

    (b) --
        (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 
 ``Equity'' and inserting ``Expansion''; and
        (B) in paragraph

    (1) , by striking ``Equity'' and 
 inserting ``Expansion''.
            (c) Funds Usage.--

    (1) Failure to use full allocation.--

Section 60102
            (c) (5)
            (C) 
            (ii) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 
 Act (47 U.S.C. 1702
            (c) (5)
            (C) 
            (ii) ) is amended by striking 
 ``deadline, the Assistant Secretary'' and all that follows 
 through the end and inserting ``deadline, the Assistant 
 Secretary shall transfer the unused amounts to the general fund 
 of the Treasury.''.

    (2) Use of funds.--

Section 60102

    (f) of the Infrastructure 
 Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (f) ) is amended--
        (A) in paragraph

    (4)
        (B) , by striking the semicolon 
 and inserting ``; and''; and
        (B) by striking paragraphs

    (5) and

    (6) and 
 inserting the following:
 ``

    (5) telecommunications workforce development programs.''.
            (d) Project Size Reform.--

Section 60102

    (g)

    (2) of the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (g)

    (2) ) is amended--

    (1) in subparagraph
        (B) , by striking ``and'' at the end;

    (2) in subparagraph
            (C) , by striking the period and 
 inserting ``; and''; and

    (3) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (D) if the eligible entity awards a subgrant on 
 the basis of a project area defined by the eligible 
 entity, incorporate a mechanism--
 ``
            (i) for a prospective subgrantee to 
 remove from such project area a location that 
 the prospective subgrantee determines would 
 unreasonably increase costs or is otherwise 
 necessary to remove; and
 ``
            (ii) to award a subgrant for any location 
 removed pursuant to clause
            (i) .''.

    (e) Prohibition on Certain Conditions.--

Section 60102

    (g) of the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (g) ) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (4) Prohibition on certain conditions.--Neither the 
 Assistant Secretary nor an eligible entity may establish or 
 enforce, with respect to a process of bidding, a grant, or a 
 subgrant under this section, a condition or other requirement, 
 including a reporting requirement or bid scoring component or 
 preference, of such process of bidding, grant, or subgrant 
 (without regard to whether such condition or other requirement 
 was approved as part of the initial proposal, or any other 
 portion of the application process, of such eligible entity) 
 that relates to--
 ``
        (A) prevailing wages or compliance with 
 subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States 
 Code;
 ``
        (B) project labor agreements;
 ``
            (C) union workforces;
 ``
            (D) collective bargaining;
 ``
        (E) local hiring;
 ``
        (F) commitment to union neutrality;
 ``
        (G) labor peace agreements;
 ``
        (H) workforce composition or reporting of 
 workforce composition;
 ``
            (I) climate change;
 ``
        (J) regulation of network management practices, 
 including data caps;
 ``
        (K) open access;
 ``
            (L) a letter of credit from a subgrantee that--
 ``
            (i) has commercially deployed or operated 
 a broadband network using technologies that are 
 the same or similar to the technologies 
 relevant to such process of bidding, grant, or 
 subgrant; and
 ``
            (ii) is seeking--
 ``
            (I) funding in an amount that is 
 less than 25 percent of the annual 
 revenues of the subgrantee, including 
 any entity that controls, is controlled 
 by, or that is under common control 
 with such subgrantee; or
 ``
            (II) to provide service to a 
 number of locations that is less than 
 25 percent of the total number of 
 locations served by the subgrantee, 
 including any entity that controls, is 
 controlled by, or that is under common 
 control with such subgrantee; or
 ``
            (M) diversity, equity, and inclusion.''.

    (f) All Technologies Eligible.--

Section 60102

    (g) of the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (g) ), as amended 
by the preceding subsections of this section, is further amended by 
adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (5) All technologies eligible.--An eligible entity, in 
 awarding subgrants for the deployment of a broadband network 
 using grant funds received under this section, shall treat as 
 satisfying the definition of the term `reliable broadband 
 service' any broadband service that meets the performance 
 criteria established under subsection

    (a)

    (2)
            (L) without regard 
 to the type of technology by which such service is provided.''.

    (g) No Regulation of Rates Permitted.--

Section 60102

    (h)

    (5)
            (D) of 
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702

    (h)

    (5)
            (D) ) is 
amended to read as follows:
 ``
            (D) No regulation of rates permitted.--
 ``
            (i) Rule of construction.--Nothing in 
 this title may be construed to authorize the 
 Assistant Secretary, the National 
 Telecommunications and Information 
 Administration, or an eligible entity to 
 regulate, set, or otherwise mandate the rates 
 charged for broadband service or the 
 methodologies used to calculate such rates, for 
 consumers generally or for any subset of 
 consumers, including through the capping or 
 freezing of such rates, the encouragement of 
 another entity to regulate such rates, or the 
 use of rates as part of an application scoring 
 process.
 ``
            (ii) Prohibition.--An eligible entity may 
 not regulate, set, or otherwise mandate 
 pursuant to this section the rates charged for 
 broadband service or the methodologies used to 
 calculate such rates, including through the 
 capping or freezing of such rates, the 
 encouragement of another entity to regulate 
 such rates, or the use of rates as part of an 
 application scoring process, without regard to 
 whether the regulation, setting, or mandating--
 ``
            (I) was approved, prior to the 
 date of the enactment of this clause, 
 as part of the initial proposal, or any 
 other portion of the application 
 process, of such entity; or
 ``
            (II) is carried out in 
 conjunction with the requirement to 
 offer a low-cost broadband service 
 option under paragraph

    (4)
        (B) .''.
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