“A bill to amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to reauthorize the Community Connect Grant Program, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section revises eligibility criteria for the Community Connect Grant Program—which provides grants to eligible entities for broadband deployment and facilities in rural areas lacking sufficient access to broadband service—and extends the program through 2031 (from 2023) by (1) defining eligible unserved areas as those lacking broadband service providing 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream capacity; (2) redefining underserved rural areas as those with broadband service below 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream (from 10 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively); and (3) excluding from eligibility any area with current broadband service or broadband service to be provided in the future pursuant to enforceable commitments under another federal broadband funding program. (Thus, this prevents grant awards in areas already served or committed to service under other programs.)