119-s98

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 98 Engrossed in Senate

    (ES) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 98

_______________________________________________________________________

 AN ACT

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting 
 process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service 
 program funding.

 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 ``Rural Broadband Protection Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST UNIVERSAL SERVICE 
 FUND APPLICANTS.

 

Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (m) Vetting of High-Cost Fund Recipients.--
 ``

    (1) === Definitions. ===
-In this subsection--
 ``
        (A) the term `covered funding' means any new 
 offer of high-cost universal service program funding, 
 including funding provided through a reverse 
 competitive bidding mechanism provided under this 
 section, for the deployment of a broadband-capable 
 network and the provision of supported services over 
 the network; and
 ``
        (B) the term `new covered funding award' means an 
 award of covered funding that is made based on an 
 application submitted to the Commission on or after the 
 date on which rules are promulgated under paragraph

    (2) .
 ``

    (2) Commission rulemaking.--Not later than 180 days after 
 the date of enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall 
 initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a vetting process 
 for applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered 
 funding award.
 ``

    (3) Contents.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--In promulgating rules under 
 paragraph

    (2) , the Commission shall provide that, 
 consistent with principles of technology neutrality, 
 the Commission will only award covered funding to 
 applicants that can demonstrate that they meet the 
 qualifications in subparagraph
        (B) .
 ``
        (B) Qualifications described.--An applicant for a 
 new covered funding award shall include in the initial 
 application a proposal containing sufficient detail and 
 documentation for the Commission to ascertain that the 
 applicant possesses the technical, financial, and 
 operational capabilities, and has a reasonable business 
 plan, to deploy the proposed network and deliver 
 services with the relevant performance characteristics 
 and requirements defined by the Commission and as 
 pledged by the applicant.
 ``
            (C) Evaluation of proposal.--The Commission shall 
 evaluate a proposal described in subparagraph
        (B) against--
 ``
            (i) reasonable and well-established 
 technical, financial, and operational 
 standards, including the technical standards 
 adopted by the Commission in orders of the 
 Commission relating to Establishing the Digital 
 Opportunity Data Collection (WC Docket No. 19-
 195) (or orders of the Commission relating to 
 modernizing any successor collection) for 
 purposes of entities that must report broadband 
 availability coverage; and
 ``
            (ii) the applicant's history of complying 
 with requirements in Commission and other 
 government broadband deployment funding 
 programs.
 ``
            (D) Penalties for pre-authorization defaults.--In 
 adopting rules for any new covered funding award, the 
 Commission shall set a penalty for pre-authorization 
 defaults of at least $9,000 per violation and may not 
 limit the base forfeiture to an amount less than 30 
 percent of the applicant's total support, unless the 
 Commission demonstrates the need for lower penalties in 
 a particular instance.''.

 Passed the Senate June 26 (legislative day, June 24), 2025.

 Attest:

 Secretary.
119th CONGRESS

 1st Session

 S. 98

_______________________________________________________________________

 AN ACT

To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting 
 process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service 
 program funding.