Skip to main content
HR 1685 113th Congress House Science, Technology, Communications Administrative law and regulatory procedures Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies Competition and antitrust Consumer affairs Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Licensing and registrations Telecommunication rates and fees Telephone and wireless communication

Broadband Adoption Act of 2013

Introduced: April 23, 2013 Introduced by: Matsui, Doris O. Democratic · California See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Apr 26, 2013
Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Apr 23, 2013
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Apr 23, 2013
Introduced in House
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Broadband Adoption Act of 2013 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt a final rule establishing support for broadband under the Universal Service Fund Lifeline Assistance Program to enable qualifying low-income customers residing in urban and rural areas to purchase broadband service at reduced charges by reimbursing providers who elect to participate in the program for each such customer served.

Establishes a program model under which qualifying individuals may elect to apply support from the Lifeline program to basic telephone service, voice telephony service, or broadband service, whether each service is purchased stand-alone or in a bundle.

Authorizes the FCC to determine whether state matching funds may be provided as a condition of eligibility for low-income households within such state.

Requires the program to be technology neutral to promote competition from service providers.

Requires a broadband service provider that is not an eligible telecommunications carrier to obtain FCC authorization to participate in the program.

Directs the FCC to: (1) adopt regulations to prevent duplicative Lifeline subsidies from being awarded to an individual eligible household, and (2) establish a national database to determine consumer eligibility. Limits qualifying individuals to only one Lifeline program support amount per eligible household.

What's happening now April 26, 2013

Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2