Clyburn, Upton Bow Bill to Allow Early Awards for Some RDOF Phase I Applicants
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., filed the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act (HR-7022) Thursday in a bid to speed disbursing funds from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction before its start date. The FCC plans to begin the first phase of the 10-year, $20.4 billion RDOF Oct. 29. Some stakeholders want RDOF Phase I to be delayed, but no change is likely (see 2004280055).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
HR-7022 would require the FCC award funding by Sept. 30 to Phase I applicants in census blocks where “there is only 1 qualified applicant willing to commit” to provide gigabit broadband service within one year. The measure would require the FCC use its preliminary March 17 list of eligible census blocks (see Ref:2003170038]) rather than future lists that might exclude areas in New York, California and elsewhere that drew challenges. Blocks with applicants that qualify for early awards would be removed from the Phase I auction. HR-7022 would appropriate $88 million to the FCC through the end of FY 2027 to improve coverage data maps. HR-7022’s language was earlier included in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HR-6800).
It’s important for the House to consider HR-7022’s language so it has a chance to advance “irrespective of the outcome” of Senate consideration of HR-6800, which got significant GOP resistance, Clyburn told reporters. HR-7022’s language has more potential to garner bipartisan support, which will be crucial to ensuring it “can be included” in the next COVID-19 aid bill, Upton told reporters. HR-6800, which the House passed earlier this month (see 2005180056), also contains substantial broadband funding.
NARUC President Brandon Presley endorsed HR-7022 during the news media call. He’s gathering support for a petition to President Donald Trump and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., “urging them to take action to accelerate” the RDOF Phase I start date. Wicker is considering ways to speed up the Phase I timeline in response to an earlier Presley-led letter (see 2005070055). Clyburn’s office listed NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson among those supporting HR-7022. Lorea Stallard, deputy director of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) office in Washington, D.C., signaled support for the bill during a Thursday virtual meeting of the North Carolina broadband task force Thursday. It’s “a more narrowly tailored bill” than HR-6800, “but I think it would do a lot,” she said.
The Wireless ISP Association criticized HR-7022. WISPA said it “will reward players who have failed to bring service to unserved Americans, while punishing those entrepreneurial small business owners who have worked for years to bring broadband solutions to rural America.”