Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025

1. 98 119CONGRESS TH1S STESSION

AN ACT

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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1

This Act may be cited as the ''Rural Broadband Pro-2 tection Act of 2025''. 3

SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST 4 UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS. 5

Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 6 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the fol-7 lowing: 8 ''(m) V -C F R .-- 9 ETTING OF IGH OST UND ECIPIENTS ''(1) D .--In this subsection-- 10 EFINITIONS ''(A) the term 'covered funding' means any 11 new offer of high-cost universal service program 12 funding, including funding provided through a 13 reverse competitive bidding mechanism provided 14 under this section, for the deployment of a 15 broadband-capable network and the provision of 16 supported services over the network; and 17 ''(B) the term 'new covered funding award' 18 means an award of covered funding that is 19 made based on an application submitted to the 20 Commission on or after the date on which rules 21 are promulgated under paragraph (2). 22 ''(2) C .--Not later 23 HOMMISSION RULEMAKING than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 24 subsection, the Commission shall initiate a rule-25 making proceeding to establish a vetting process for 26

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applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered 1 funding award. 2 ''(3) C .-- 3 ONTENTS ''(A) I .--In promulgating rules 4 N GENERAL under paragraph (2), the Commission shall pro-5 vide that, consistent with principles of tech-6 nology neutrality, the Commission will only 7 award covered funding to applicants that can 8 demonstrate that they meet the qualifications in 9 subparagraph (B). 10 ''(B) Q .--An 11 UALIFICATIONS DESCRIBED applicant for a new covered funding award shall 12 include in the initial application a proposal con-13 taining sufficient detail and documentation for 14 the Commission to ascertain that the applicant 15 possesses the technical, financial, and oper-16 ational capabilities, and has a reasonable busi-17 ness plan, to deploy the proposed network and 18 deliver services with the relevant performance 19 characteristics and requirements defined by the 20 Commission and as pledged by the applicant. 21 ''(C) E .--The 22 VALUATION OF PROPOSAL Commission shall evaluate a proposal described 23 in subparagraph (B) against-- 24

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''(i) reasonable and well-established 1 technical, financial, and operational stand-2 ards, including the technical standards 3 adopted by the Commission in orders of 4 the Commission relating to Establishing 5 the Digital Opportunity Data Collection 6 (WC Docket No. 19-195) (or orders of the 7 Commission relating to modernizing any 8 successor collection) for purposes of enti-9 ties that must report broadband avail-10 ability coverage; and 11 ''(ii) the applicant's history of com-12 plying with requirements in Commission 13 and other government broadband deploy-14 ment funding programs. 15 ''(D) P - 16ENALTIES FOR PRE AUTHORIZATION .--In adopting rules for any new cov-17DEFAULTS ered funding award, the Commission shall set a 18 penalty for pre-authorization defaults of at least 19 $9,000 per violation and may not limit the base 20 forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of 21 the applicant's total support, unless the Com-22

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mission demonstrates the need for lower pen-1 alties in a particular instance.''. 2 Passed the Senate June 26 (legislative day, June 24), 2025. Attest:

Secretary.

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To require the Federal Communications Commis- 119 funding. applicants for high-cost universal service program sion to establish a vetting process for prospective 1 TH ST CONGRESS S

ESSION

AN ACT S. 98