United States HR 8040: Small Business Last Mile Act of 2020

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 8040
To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish
a grant program to facilitate the provision of high-speed broadband
service to small business concerns in rural areas, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 14, 2020
Mr. GOLDEN (for himself and Mr. STAUBER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Small Business
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Adminis-
tration to establish a grant program to facilitate the
provision of high-speed broadband service to small busi-
ness concerns in rural areas, and for other purposes.
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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Last 4
Mile Act of 2020’’. 5
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SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED 1
BROADBAND SERVICE. 2
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 3
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 4
of the Small Business Administration shall establish a pro-5
gram (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to facili-6
tate the provision of high-speed broadband service to rural 7
small business concerns. 8
(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro-9
gram, the Administrator shall award a grant to each eligi-10
ble State that submits an application. 11
(c) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 12
(1) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The Administrator shall 13
award a grant under the Program each year to a 14
State that submits an application pursuant to sub-15
section (d). 16
(2) ELIGIBLE SUBGRANT RECIPIENT.— 17
(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible State may 18
award a subgrant under the Program to any 19
entity, or group of entities, determined by the 20
eligible State to have the authority and capa-21
bility to carry out a project described in sub-22
section (d). 23
(B) NOT REQUIRED TO BE ELIGIBLE 24
TELECOMMUNICATION CARRIER.—A determina-25
tion of authority and capability under subpara-26
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graph (A) may not require a subgrant recipient 1
to be designated as an eligible telecommuni-2
cations carrier under section 214(e) of the 3
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 4
214(e)). 5
(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 6
the Program, a State shall submit to the Administrator 7
an application that demonstrates that the State— 8
(1) prior to the date of application for a grant 9
under the Program, has experience managing a 10
State or Federal grant program to facilitate the pro-11
vision of high-speed broadband service; 12
(2) maintains a State broadband plan; 13
(3) has updated the State broadband plan 14
under paragraph (2) in the five years prior to the 15
date a State submits an application for a grant 16
under the Program; 17
(4) agrees to subgrant any awarded funds to an 18
eligible subgrant recipient; 19
(5) agrees to conduct a periodic financial audit 20
of eligible subgrant recipients who have received a 21
subgrant under the Program; 22
(6) ensures proper disbursement and account-23
ing for Federal funds awarded under the Program, 24
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including demonstrating that if awarded a subgrant 1
under the Program— 2
(A) such award has been used to assist an 3
eligible project; and 4
(B) that a State has recovered an award 5
from a subgrant recipient who has not complied 6
with the requirements of the Program; and 7
(7) possesses any other administrative or tech-8
nical capacity that the Administrator deems nec-9
essary for the success of the Program. 10
(e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 11
(1) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds awarded under 12
the Program may only be used to assist a project 13
that makes available eligible infrastructure necessary 14
to provide high-speed broadband service to a rural 15
small business concern. 16
(2) RESTRICTION ON DUPLICATION.— 17
(A) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds awarded 18
under the Program may not be used to assist 19
a project that makes available duplicative eligi-20
ble infrastructure to a small business concern 21
located in a rural area. 22
(B) DETERMINATION OF DUPLICATIVE IN-23
FRASTRUCTURE.— 24
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(i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible State 1
shall determine the presence of duplicative 2
eligible infrastructure using broadband in-3
frastructure geolocation data from Federal, 4
State, or commercial sources. 5
(ii) PROCESS TO CHALLENGE DETER-6
MINATION