H.R. 1870

[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).''.
<all>