H.R. 1870 — SPEED for BEAD Act

This section amends the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which provides grants to states for broadband deployment to unserved and underserved locations (i.e., those lacking reliable broadband service at specified speeds and latency), as follows: (1) defines "gigabit-level broadband service," for purposes of eligible community anchor institutions (e.g., schools, libraries), as reliable broadband service with download speeds of not less than 1,000 megabits per second; (2) renames the program the "Broadband Expansion, Access, and Deployment Program"; (3) directs the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to transfer unused state allocations to the Treasury general fund upon missing deadlines (previously, an unspecified alternative); (4) revises allowable uses of program funds by striking prior paragraphs (5) and (6) and inserting as new paragraph (5) "telecommunications workforce development programs" (thus narrowing uses); (5) requires eligible entities awarding subgrants to allow prospective subgrantees to remove cost-unreasonable locations from entity-defined project areas and award separate subgrants for removed locations; (6) prohibits the Assistant Secretary and eligible entities from imposing grant, subgrant, bidding, or reporting conditions related to prevailing wages, project labor agreements, union requirements, local hiring, climate change, network management (e.g., data caps), open access, letters of credit for experienced subgrantees seeking less than 25% of their revenues or locations, or diversity, equity, and inclusion; (7) requires eligible entities to deem all broadband technologies eligible if they meet the program's reliable broadband performance criteria; and (8) expands the prohibition on regulating broadband rates to bar the Assistant Secretary, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or eligible entities from mandating, capping, freezing, or scoring applications based on rates or methodologies.