[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1197 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1197
To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the
ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships,
and cooperatives to provide broadband services.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 19, 2023
Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. King, Mr. Markey, Mr.
Sanders, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the
ability of State and local governments, public-private partnerships,
and cooperatives to provide broadband services.
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 ``Community Broadband Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. STATE, LOCAL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, AND CO-OP BROADBAND
SERVICES.
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302)
is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e);
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
``(d) State, Local, Public-Private Partnership, and Co-Op Advanced
Telecommunications Capability and Services.--
``(1) In general.--No statute, regulation, or other legal
requirement of a State may prohibit or have the effect of
prohibiting any public provider, public-private partnership
provider, or cooperatively organized provider from providing,
to any person or public or private entity, advanced
telecommunications capability or any service that utilizes the
advanced telecommunications capability provided by that
provider.
``(2) Antidiscrimination safeguards.--
``(A) Public providers.--To the extent any public
provider regulates competing private providers of
advanced telecommunications capability or services that
utilize advanced telecommunications capability, the
public provider shall apply its ordinances and rules
without discrimination in favor of--
``(i) the public provider; or
``(ii) any entity owned by the public
provider that provides services that utilize
advanced telecommunications capability.
``(B) Public-private partnership providers.--To the
extent any State or local entity that is part of a
public-private partnership provider regulates competing
private providers of advanced telecommunications
capability or services that utilize advanced
telecommunications capability, the State or local
entity shall apply its ordinances and rules without
discrimination in favor of--
``(i) the public-private partnership
provider; or
``(ii) any entity owned by the State or
local entity or public-private partnership
provider that provides services that utilize
advanced telecommunications capability.
``(3) Savings clause.--Nothing in this subsection shall
exempt a public provider, public-private partnership provider,
or cooperatively organized provider from any Federal or State
telecommunications law or regulation that applies to all
providers of advanced telecommunications capability or services
that utilize such advanced telecommunications capability.'';
and
(3) in subsection (e), as redesignated--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
striking ``this subsection'' and inserting ``this
section'';
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph
(3);
(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
``(2) Cooperatively organized provider.--The term
`cooperatively organized provider' means an entity that is
treated as a cooperative under Federal tax law and that
provides advanced telecommunications capability, or any service
that utilizes such advanced telecommunications capability, to
any person or public or private entity.''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) Public provider.--The term `public provider' means a
State or local entity that provides advanced telecommunications
capability, or any service that utilizes such advanced
telecommunications capability, to any person or public or
private entity.
``(5) Public-private partnership provider.--The term
`public-private partnership provider' means a public-private
partnership, between a State or local entity and a private
entity, that provides advanced telecommunications capability,
or any service that utilizes such advanced telecommunications
capability, to any person or public or private entity.
``(6) State or local entity.--The term `State or local
entity' means--
``(A) a State or political subdivision thereof;
``(B) any agency, authority, or instrumentality of
a State or political subdivision thereof; or
``(C) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4(e)
of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e))).''.
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